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klBRARYOF INGRESS. $' 



| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. { 



THE 



ANTI-UNIVERSALIST, 

OK 

H I S T O R Y 

OF THE 

FALLEN ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES 

PROOFS 

OF THE 

BEING OF SATAN AND OF EVIL SPIRITS, 

AND 

MANY OTHER CURIOUS MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH, 



BY JOSIAH PRIEST, 

AUTHOR OF THE MILLENIUM, AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 



EMBELLISHED WITH TWELVE ENGRAVINGS, 



ALBANY: 
Printed by j. munsell, w state street. 

1839. 

U 



PREFACE. 



No subject that has been agitated since man was created, can 
be said to have engaged the attention of all people, as that of re- 
ligion, whether among Pagan or Christian nations. That il is 
thus, is, however, perfectly natural ; because it claims to involve 
the interests of man, relative to both time and eternity, as univer- 
sally allowed. In all ages, and under all circumstances, religion, 
whether handed down from father to son by tradition, or from God 
by inspiration, as in the case of the Holy Scriptures, has ever pre- 
sented to notice two beings, who are shown as opposed to each 
other in their natures and pursuits. These two beings are known, 
or spoken of, by the terms Jehovah, and Satan ; the good and the 
evil being, in Jewish and Christian countries ; while in other parts 
of the earth, are equally acknowledged, if not thus named — differ- 
ing only as languages differ, but conveying the same ideas. 

Jehovah is represented as being infinitely good, and as having 
innumerable hosts of spiritual beings, or angels of a supernatural 
character, who act in his universal providence, among the works of 
his hands ; not only in this, but in all worlds, as agents, exerting a 
benign and protecting influence : — while the other, namely, Satan, 
is also shown as having under his supervision hosts of spirits, or 
angels, of a supernatural character, but of malevolent natures, who 
act in the way of both moral and physical ruin, so far as in their 
power in opposition to God. 

These two beings are acknowledged by all religions, in all coun- 
tries, and in all ages, under various names, ideas and attributes ; 
and were likely to have thus remained in opposition to each other, 
a while longer — even to the end of the world — had not the Univer- 
salist sect of religion arisen, who it seems are determined that one 
of these beings shall exist no longer — putting their veto upon the 
judgment of all past ages, and inspiration to boot 

This most important of all subjects, namely, religion, has both by 
tradition from remotest antiquity, and from the Bible, ever pre- 
sented its eanctions, as existing or taking place in another world, ox 



lV ' PREFACE. 



after death; and has qualified those sanctions, in dooming the bad, 
who pass out of this life having that character, to a state of unutter- 
able wo : while on the contrary, the good, sustaining that character 
when they change worlds, enter into a state of rapturous and cease- 
less happiness— a trait of jurisprudence in the government of God, 
seemingly well suited to restrain over acts and injurious behaviour 
among his subjects, so far as threatened coercion can have such an 
effect ; and likewise to encourage the practice of virtue. 

But there has arisen, out of the great sea of religious opinions, 
m these latter days, a sect, namely, the Universalists, who deny 
not only the being of this one Satan, and his coadjutors or associate 
evil spirits ;' but the ivhole of the penal sanctions of this great sub- 
ject, religion, as being inflicted, or as existing after this life, not- 
withstanding the Scriptures seem to be against them — the text of 
which they acknowledge — whose influence we will not deny is very 
great, and pervades all ranks of people, all communions of Chris- 
tians, far more than is commonly supposed, and is exerted against 
the doctrines of the orthodox sects, and as we believe the Bible itself. 
The object of this work therefore is to examine the Bible in re- 
lation to the claims of either side to the truth. We have from 
childhood heard of the existence of a devil, or Satan, from books, 
the Bible, in prayers, sermons, and conversation on the subject of 
religion, as if there could be no doubt of it— and also of evil spirits, 
and yet we have never met with any attempt to examine this trait 
of theology, as we have the rest, the being of a God, the existence 
of a. hell, a day of judgment, &c. : we have therefore undertaken to 
give our opinion of this belief— the being of Satan and evil spirits. 

In traversing the subject, we of necessity have been compelled to 
<3ip into many curious things connected with our main one, yet we 
have aimed so to manage it as not to debate disputed topics with 
any of the -orthodox orders, endeavoring to maintain all the great 
and leading features of their faith ; while we combat only with the 
doctrines of Universalists ; who, in our opinion, pervert the whole 
design of the Scriptures by their dogmas. The course we have 
pursued in this work has been to avoid prolixity, aiming to furnish 
ready and short arguments against Universalist sentiments, for the 
use of the rising generation, and such as scarcely know what to 
believe, having not much considered the matter ; believing we have 
done what we can in this work to counteract the influence of those 
principles, we hope for support and patronage, therefore 



PREFACE. V. 

We do not hesitate to express a belief that we have advanced 
much curious matter on many curious subjects, worthy the reader's 
attention, which are doubtless calculated to induce thought and elicit 
conversation, and lead men to read the Bible, which, in reality, 
contains more useful and wonderful information, than all the books 
of mankind put together. 

The nature of the subjects, upon which we have treated in this 
work, are of necessity, such as are denominted the terrible; but 
on this account, we hope it will not be rejected, while we remember 
that it is written by St. Paul: (2d Cor. v. 11,) "Knowing the 
TERROR of the Lord, we persuade men" With this view, there- 
fore, namely, to persuade men to read the Bible, and the more 
earnestly to examine it, to arouse the attention of men to the sub- 
jects we have treated upon, and to check — according to our ability, 
Universalist opinions, in their overflow of the land, — we set it 
afloat on the sea of public opinion, asking the favor of a wide 
dispersion of the work, and of its being thoroughly read and com- 
pared with the Scriptures — having with respect to these objects, the 
good wishes, at least, of 

THE AUTHOR. 



INDEX TO PART FIRST 



9 



Genesis, third chapter, examined in relation to the original 
meaning of the word Serpent; and inquiry as to what kind of animal 
it was which Satan made use of to beguile the first woman— was it a 
Snake, or was it the Orang outang ? with a full account of the latter 
kind of animal 

Arguments and traditions, which, in the estimation of many, 
go to support the ideathat a Snake was the animal of the text of Moses, 
by which Eve was deceived ; with a full account of several specimens 
of this kind of animal, a repti!e r as known to the ancients 26 

The manner in which serpents moved over the ground before 
the curse, according to a certain ancient author ; with a full account of 
the serpent- worship of the ancients ; and of the capture and size of one 
of the largest description, by the Egyptians. • . . . . 81 

Strictures on Mr. Balfour's opinions against the existence of 
any animal whatever, as used by Satan, in the beguiling of the first 
woman ; with other subjects 47 

Strictures on Mr. Balfour's opinions, respecting orthodox 
Christians havmg derived many opinions from the ancient Persians, or 
the writings of Zoroaster ; with other subjects 51 

Origin of Satan, and cause of sin ; with many other curious 
matters : „ of theirs* creative acts of God ; whether matter is eternal 
or not; with proof, of the necessary and unbeglnning existence of God ; 
whether mmd is produced from organization ; whether God was active 
prmmuto his first creative act; and whether mind or matter was first 
created; the heaven of the angels; its location; where, &e. ; have any 
other worlds of the universe sinned besides this on which we dwell T 

ITerll °I aUth ° r ° f ** **" °* ^^ agai " 8t Ch *'*%. «• 

' * 60 

Condition of the first spirits ; proofs that they were made in a 
great variety of orders ; cause of the being of Satan, &c M 

F l th K r " XamiRati0RS of the same subjects; with enquiries 
whe her the angeh of the Scriptures were men or spirits; the latter of 
which, by some Universalis, is denied, Pl 

Supposed voyages of the angels, or spirits, out from 'their 
heaven into the ocean of space, before anything else was created; 
*a*urt of mmd; of free agency ; strictures on Universalis!*' opinions 
retpeeting free ageney ; with many other curious matte™,. .......... 164 



INDEX. Vll. 

Proofs of tho fall of the angels; refutation of several propo- 
sitions of Balfour, which accuses the orthodox sects of deriving their 
peculiar opinions from the writings of Zoroaster, the Persian ; of the sin 
of Eve ; with strictures on the Universalis! opinion , that all the deoU 
there was which misled Eve was her lusts ; with other curious matters, 124 

Fall of the angels ; and cause of Satan's being, still further 
examined ; God revealed to the angels ; his reasons for creating free 
agents, though he foreknew that some would sin, 138 

Mode of the trial or probation of the angels, long before the 
world was made ? and an account of those who fell in that trial ; the 
argument which was carried on between Michael and Lucifer, (both 
good angels at that time,) constituting what is called in Scripture a war 
in heaven ; and by what means this war was ended ; their first discovery 
of creation, &c <, 144 

Respecting Lucifer, son of the morning ; who and what ho 
was, as spoken of by Isaiah the prophet ; whether the king of Babylon 
or Satan the fallen angel, 187 

What became of the wicked angels after their fall ; is there 
a located hell or not in another world ; and is there yet to come a day 
of particular and general judgment 1 with further proofs of the existence 
of a devil and evil spirits ; with strictures on the Universalist opinion, 
that the ruining the Jews by the Romans was the day of judgment 
spoken of in the New Testament ; with other curious matters, 171 

The famous text, by which Universalists think they prove 
that the worst hell there is in existence is in this life, examined ; and is 
found Psalms, lxxxvi. 13 ; with other interesting subjects, • • . 205 

Respecting whether other worlds may have been destroyed 
in ages past, by fire, as this is to be ; with proofs of such occurrences, 
according to the arehivea of astronomy, • • . « 215 



INDEX TO PART SECOND. 

Account of the operation of Satan, with the heads of our 
race — Adam and Eve ; with further evidence of the real existence of 
Satan and evil spirits, — with strictures on the Universalist belief, that 
the lusts of human nature — its diseases — the idols of the heathen, &c, 
are all the devils there are in existence; with other curious matters, 
about the fall of our first parents 227 

What would have been the condition of Eve, if when she had 
broken the law about the forbidden tree, and offered its fruit to Adam, 
if he had not received it ; and what would have been the condition of 
«ur race, under such a view of the subject, . ., . 24S 



Vlll. INDEX. 

Further proofs of the being of Satan, and of his real identity, 
as shown from the book of Job, and other Scriptures ; with further 
strictures about the lusts of Eve, before she had sinned — according to 
Universalists ; and other curious matters . . . . . . 249 

Further evidence still, of the real existence of Satan, and evil 
angels — shown from the text of the New Testament — his operation 
against the Saviour, and possession of many people — and of their being 
cast out of them, &cj with strictures on the Universalist belief, that 
the carnal mind is one of the devils of human nature, &c. 264 

Further accounts of the being of Satan ; with proofs that the 
world is to be destroyed by fire, &c 279 

The subject of rewards and punishments — whether awarded 
in this life, or in another ; a guilty conscience purgatory — as held by 
Universalists — examined ; the deaths of St. Paul and Voltaire con- 
trasted ; of a day of judgment to come, &c. ; with strictures on Univer- 
salist opinions, about the penal fire of the New Testament ; with other 
subjects, &c 287 

An enquiry, how Satan, and evil spirits were worshiped in 
ancient times — with proofs that they were worshiped, — and even in 
modern times SIS 

An enquiry as to the original cause of diseases and death ; 
are they of God or of Satan ? with other curious matters, 326 

On the subjects of evil spirits — the opinions of the Jews on 
this subject — of Simon Magus, and the Gnostics ; evil spirits cast out of 
many who were possessed ; of the wonderful consequences which 
followed «-. ». . . . 334 

Miscellaneous strictures and remarks on the subjects of Uni- 
versalist doctrines and opinions > 362 

On the subject of the forms or shapes of good and evil spirits, 
and of the human soul when disembodied ; with conjectures how evil 
spirits get the possession of human beings, » . . . . 404 

Attributes of Satan, and evil spirits * 414 

Evidence of Polycarp, the Martyr, against Universalists, in 
relation to a hell after death > 417 

Proofs of the immortality of the human soul, or that it does 
not die or sleep, from death till the resurrection—as held by some Uni- 
versalists, 418 

TO THE SUBSCRIBER. 
C£^* Although the Index does not particularise all we have alla« 
ded to in the allusions of the Prospectus, yet we have treated on 
all the promised subjects, and many more. 



HISTORY OP THE FALLEN ANGELS, &C. 

PART FIRST. 



That there exists a supernatural being, designated by the 
original term, and name, Satan, is believed by all the Christian 
tects, denominated orthodox ; yet we do not find among the 
great number of this description of Christians any belief extant 
of the existence of but one such being ; while it is held by them 
that there are many evil spirits or supernatural demons, who are 
inferior in mental ability, and subordinate to this one Satan ; who 
before he fell, was one of the only two archangels, of all the intel- 
lectual powers, which God created in the very out-set and begin- 
ning of existences. 

The names of those two archangels, w hen first created, were 
Michael and Lucifer, as we shall show in the course of the 
work; Michael signifying, u the might of God:" and Lucifer, 
lAght-bringer. St. Jude, the Prophets Daniel and Isaiah, speak 
of these beings, under those names ; orthodox christians believe 
that these two highest of all angelic orders, as well as all beneath 
them, were created by the Word of Gcd, who, in the course of 
ages, created not only our earth, but all other worlds, and contin- 
ues to create as he pleases, and will continue thus to create ad 
infinitum, peopling them and constituting them as he will.; and 
that this Word of God — the Second Person of the ever-adorable 
and mysterious Trinity — in the fullness of periods, became in- 
carnate, or in other words, became flesh and dwelt among men : 
when he received the name of Jesus Christ. 

According to these, the orthodox sects, it is believed that erne 
of these archangels, namely, Lvcifcr, fell from his first condi- 
tion, together with many other angels of lower orders, and were 
therefore, necessarily, bereft of all happiness, which constitute* 
their departure from, or fall from heaven, their first estate. The 
iirst information of this occurrence, they believe is found in Gen 
esis, the book of the generations of the heavens and the earth, at 
the beginning of the 3d chapter, as written by Moses ; and is 
believed to be the eldest literary work now in being : the Chinese 
raid Hindoo books not excepted : which by some it it is said* 
however, claim an astonishing antiquity, amounting even to 
millions of years, if not of ages ; but are known, and ascertained 
by the enlightened antiquarian societies of the ajre, and especially 

ft 



10 HISTORY OF THE FALLEflf 

the one established in China, to be preposterous ifi (he extreme* 
In this Chapter, it is believed, is found the first proof of the exis- 
tence of such a being, who by Eve, the first woman, was called 
Serpent, as stated by Moses ; and by St, Paul, 2d Cor. xi. 3, 
and St. Jonas* Rev. xx ; who adds the names of Devil and Satan. 
to the word Serpent. Here in the disguise of an animal, called in 
our English translation of the Bible, the Serpent, this fallen an- 
gel is noticed conversing with Eve, the mother of the whole hu- 
man race. 

But as it respects proof, that there was a fallen angel, called 
Satan, the Serpent, and the Devil, an intellectual being, who by 
sophistry, false argument* and lies, misled, beguiled and de- 
ceived Eve, we shall defer it for the present ; for the purpose of 
ascertaining the kind of animal Eve meant, when she said to the 
Lord, that the Serpent had beguiled her, and she did eat ; which 
when we shall have ascertained we shall resume again. 

As it respects the kind of animal, thus spoken of, and called a 
serpent, it was believed by the pious, learned, and celebrated 
Adam Clarke, one of the most laborious and voluminous Bible 
commentators of the age, that it was not a snake or serpent ; but 
a creature of the Shnia species : namely, the Orang Outang, 
or the wild man of the woods, which is the meaning of the word 
in the Chinese language : the wild man of the woods because it 
looks so much like a man. This opinion may, perhaps, appear 
extremely singular to many, if not wholly absurd, on account of 
having always from infancy supposed it to have been a snake ; 
yet before we condemn this opinion, no doubt we shall do well to 
attend to the reasoning of that great man, as well as to the argu- 
ments of others, of the same opinion. We intend, however, to 
give all the reasons we can find in support of the common belief, 
as well as in support of the other ; between which the reader 
will make his choice, if he values the question. 

Dr. Clarke's reasons against the animal having been a snake 
are as follows. He says the word which is translated serpent. 
and has led the whole world to believe that the creature was a 
snake, is in the original Hebrew written Nachasn, or Nahash, 
and that it is susceptible of no less than three distinct significa- 
tions. 

First : it signifies to observe attentively, to divine or foretel 
events; or to use enchantments as did the ancient angers or 
sreers, by viewing attentively the flights of birds, the entrails of 
beasts when slain, the course of the clouds, &c. 

Second: the word Nachash signifies to acquire knowledge 
by experience, as by suffering^ by enjoyment, society, &c. 

Third: it signifies brass, and is translated in the Bible not 
only brass, but chains and fetters of brass, and in several places 
even steel, or any thing which glitters or is highly burnished. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. II 

From winch it is clear, says this writer, that from the various ac- 
ceptations of the word, and the different meanings which it bears, 
in the sacred writings, that it was a sort of general term in the 
Hebrew language, confined to no one specific sense, to the ex- 
clusion of all others. Here it will be necessary to follow his rea- 
soning, in his examination of the root of that word ; to see if its 
original Ideal meaning will not enable us to discover the trim 
animal intended in the text, and spoken of by Eve to the Lord, 

We have already seen, he says, that the word Nachash signi- 
fies, among other meanings, to view attentively, and also to ac- 
quire knowledge by experience, as it is used in Gen. xxx. 27, 
by Jacob: who, m speaking of the hard treatment he met with 
«t the hand of Laban, his father-in-law, says Nachashti ; signi- 
fying, I have now learned by experience : for his father-in-law 
had cheated him, or changed the conditions of his services no less 
than ten times, — and this meaning appears to be its most gene- 
ral meaning m the Bible, namely, that of acquiring knowledge. 
by experience or otherwise. 

But this word Nachash was, by the Greek translators, who 
translated parts of the Old Testament into their language, nearly 
three hundred years before Christ, made to mean Op is, or Ophi, 
a creeping animal — the snake. They do not seem, says Dr. 
Clarke, to have done this because this was its fixed and deter- 
minate . meaning in the sacred writings, but because it was the 
best that occurred to the then translators, who do not seem to 
have given themselves much trouble about it We may suppose 
however, another reason which we will add to the above, as ad- 
ditional, why they may have supposed the word to mean a snake. 
We have seen that one of its significations, under the third head 
of its general meanings, was anything which was bright and 
highly burnished, glittering in the sun, and being beautiful to the 
sight of the beholder. Now this meaning of the word, was very 
well suited to the glossy, bright, and variegated shining of many 
kinds of serpents, which abound in Greece, and all tropical 
countries, or in very warm latitudes : on which account, and not 
being acquainted with the orang-outang, a creature of the hotest 
regions of Africa and the East Indies, — the snake, for the reason 
just remarked, and not on account of its subtilty, was supposed by 
these Greek translators, to have been the animal which Eve 
mentioned, as stated by Moses. 

From that translation therefore, which is called the Septua- 
gint, says Dr. Clarke, we can derive no light, nor indeed from 
any other of the ancient versions of the Scriptures, which are all 
subsequent to that translation. Wherefore, he says, in all this 
uncertainty about the meaning of the word Nachash, in the 
ancient Hebrew, it is natural for a determined and serious enqui- 
rer after truth, to look everywhere for information ; and that in 



12 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

such an enquiry, the Arabic language may lie expected to afibrcl 
some help, on account of its great similarity, and even relation 
to the Hebrew. 

Here, before we pursue, this author's reasonings on this sub- 
iect, at length, we will take occasion to state the reasons why 
the Hebrew and Arabic languages, were most undoubtedly simi- 
lar, if not identically the same in the time of Moses, when the 
book of Genesis was written, — and therefore may be resorted to. 
as an aid in the interpretation of the Hebrew word Nachash, as 
well as of many others in that language. 

The Arabians claim Abraham as their father, through the 
ancestry of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, by the Egyptian girl, 
or servant-maid of Sarah, the wife of Abraham. " On winch 
account, the Arabians were anciently known, and named among 
the nations, IshmaelUcs, the descendants of Ishmael, the son of 
Abraham. Now the language which Hagar and her son spoke : 
who was but thirteen years old, when he, with his mother, was 
compelled to leave the dwelling and company of Abraham's 
numerous household, — most assuredly was that of Abraham ; 
consequently, it is clear, that the two languages, have the same 
origin, and that one of them arose out of the other: and who 
can noiu determine which is the purer Hebrew, the old Arabic, 
or Ishmaelite language, or the language of Moses and the Israel- 
ites, when they were among the Egyptians. 

It is true, that from the time in which Hagar and her son 
went out from Abraham, into the great wilderness, to commence 
(he fulfilment of God's word of promise to Abraham, concerning 
Ishmael, namely, that he should become a multitude, and thai 
lie should be a wild man. and that out of him twelve kings should 
proceed ; — was till the time of Moses, all of four hundred years ; 
yet on account of the proximity of the Egyptians, where the 
Israelites in the land of Goshen were, during tins four hundred 
years, and the Arabians, or Ishmaelite country, the language or 
dialect of the two races, cannot with any show of reason, be sup- 
posed to have been at all dissimilar ; as the fact is, even now, they 
are exceedingly alike. 

Which of the two languages, as spoken by Moses, or as spoken 
by the Arabians, when the Scriptures of both the Old and New 
Testaments, were first translated into their language, (which was 
not till %afler the Christian Era.) was most like the language c£ 
Abraham", is hard to decide/ But of the Arabic language, Dr. 
Clarke says, that it is of great use, even now. in understanding the 
most ancient Hebrew Manuscripts of the Bible. The fact, no 
doubt is, the two languages are brothers, arising cut of the same 
source, and from the little intercourse of the Arabians or Ishma- 
elites, from time immemorial, with other nations, lias aided in 
retaining their ancient manners, their customs, and their Ian- 



Angels of the scriptures. 13 

guage, "in much the 'same condition they were, in all times of 
their existence, from the time they were first known as Ishmael- 
ites till now, or till the time when the Bible was translated into 
their language, after the Christian Era. 

In the very era of Moses, the Phoenicians — the first people, 
after the Deluge, who arrived at an extensive empire, having 
commenced under the auspices of Nimrod, the grand-son of 
Noah ; — comprehended the countries afterward known in scrip- 
ture history, of Palestine, Tyre, Sidon, the whole country of the 
old Canaanites, and the Hebrews, Syria, Syro-Phoenicia, Am- 
rarn, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Babylon, and Chaidea. In all these 
countries, says Mr, Good, author of u Book of Nature? the 
same language was spoken, and the same alphabet was used, — ■ 
differing no more in their dialects, than the Scotch and English 
differ now. But while all other nations have passed away, with 
their languages and usages, the Arabians, inhabiting a country, 
which, on account of its deserts and location, secluded its inhabi- 
tants from mingling in commerce, with surrounding nations, 
have retained therefore, their ancient manners and language, more 
pure than any other people of the whole earth. For this very 
reason, we see the propriety of going to the Arabic language, to 
aid in deciphering the true and identical meaning of the word 
Nachash ; a word, used by the mother of the human race, in 
conversation with Ged himself, when she complained to him, 
that she had been deceived by this creature, according to the 
account Moses has given us of the transaction. Well, what 
word is there in the Arabic language, which can help us in this 
difficulty ? It is the word Cha-nass. The word Cha-nass, 
says Dr. Clarke, is a root, in the Arable, and casts light on this 
subject, as it is similar in formation and sound, to the Hebrew 
Nachash. The word Cha-nass, or K-ha-nassa, — signifies, 
departed, drew off, lay hid, seduced, slunk away. From this 
root, comes A-ka-ha-nass, K-h-nass, and K-ha-noos, all of which 
signify, an Ape, or Sati/rus, or any creature of the Simia, or 
Ape genus, at the head of which, is placed the Orang-outang, or 
man of the woods. It is very remarkable, says Dr. Clarke, that 
one of these words — namely, K-ha-nass, means the devil, that 
fallen angel, in the Arabic, — and is derived from the root, Cha- 
nass, or K-ha-nassa, which means a Seducer. 

Now is it not strange, that the Arabic Satan, -devil, or fallen 
angel, should have the same name, with that of the Orang-outang, 
and derived from the same root, and that root so very similar to 
the Hebrew word Nachash^ unless they signified the same thing 
hi the outset, and common parent language, as spoken in the 
family of Abraham, and at the time of Moses, by the Hebrews? 

We have seen that one of the meanings of the Hebrew Nach- 
tosh, was that of foretelling events, embracing under that idea, 



I J HISTORY OF THET FALLEN 

that of necromancy \ which is a deceptive, deceitful pretension, 
and agrees with the Arabic word Cha-»ass r or K-ha-nassa r — 
which signifies to seduce, and then to hide r by secretly departing 
from the sight, so that the seduced cannot even suspect they are 
deceived. By examining the Hebrew,, as now extant, it is found, 
that the word Koph or jfe>op/* r signifies an ape, or any creature 
of the si??iia, or ape genus, — which words, in their formation: 
and sound, are extremely similar to the Arabic word K-ha-noos.. 
the name for the same creature in the Arabic, aim would seem to> 
prove, that the words kt both languages,, were derived originally 
from the same root, Cha-nass, and shows them to have sprung; 
out of the same origin, and family : that of Abraham the Chaldean. 

With this view it is extremely singular r that the Greek trans- 
lators should have rendered the Hebrew word Naehash — which 
we believe arose out of the root Oka-mess — to signify- a snake, 
pr opis or oph$ r which are terms in that language lor the serpent, 
instead of having translated it Pithc-kos, which is the Greek name 
of the Ape, or any creature of the Simia race, and has for its head 
the Orang-outang- or wild man of the woods. They must have- 
been influenced by some such reasons as we have already given, 
namely, that as the snakes in; the warm' countries,, and islands of 
the Greeks, were very beautiful,, glossy and shining in their 
appearance, they seemed to have supposed that the word Naeh- 
ash, meant this creature,, as that aii}r thing which was highly 
burnished and glittered in the rays of the sun, was one of its 
ideal meanings. 

But if they had discovered its other meaning, — which was, to> 
deceive, and seduce, by subtilty, cunning, &e, — they no doubt 
would have translated the word Naehash, Pi-the-kos, which 
was in Greek,, the Orang-outang,, or any creature of the Ape 
genus. The word Pi-the-kos, is more than fifty per cent affinity 
to both the Hebrew and Arabic names of the same creature. 
We will exhibit them together, that the reader may at once per- 
ceive their likeness : Nach-ash, Kooph, which are Hebrew, K- 
ha-noos, K-ha-nass r which are Arabic, and Pi-the-kos, which 
is Greek. Do they not evidently bear to each other a strong 
consanguinity in sound and formation. 

And why should they not? As the ancient Hebrew r the an- 
cient Greek, and the ancient Arabic, were all spoken in smafi 
countries^ bordering on each other, at a time but little removed 
from the time of the flood, and must of necessity at that period 
of the world, have been much more alike; springing as they did,. 
out of the language of Noah r and retaining their then affinities, 
fer more than such of them as now remain, can possibly be 
expected to do — except the Arabic alone, for the reasons already 
given. 

But to return from, the subject of the cmaiure 7 s ?iame r wox& 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 15 

particularly to what is said of its attributes, as examined by Ad- 
am Clarke, — u Now the Nackash was more subtle, more wise, 
and prudent, than any beast of the field, [or earth] which the 
Lord God had made' In this account, we find, — First: that 
whatever this Nachask was, it stood at the head of the whole 
animal creation, for wisdom, subtilty, and understanding. 
And Second; that it walked or went upright ; as this is necessa- 
rily implied in its punishment : — -on thy belly shalt thou go:' 
L e. on all fours, like other quadrupeds. Could this have been, 
said of a creeping serpent, or reptile, of any kind, as none of them 
ever did, and never could walk erect, as they have no means, by 
which they could have thus made progress over the ground 1 If 
therefore, the animal was a snake, a creature which had crept 
along on the ground from its creation, it could have been neither 
curse nor punishment, for them to go on their bellies, as they had 
always done, and must do while the race endures." 

In the motions of a serpent, there appears to be no kind of 
inconvenience ; as it glides rapidly and secretly on its way, how- 
ever rough and uneven it may be, or dangerous to other animals 
that have legs, on which account, the creature is most evident- 
ly better commoded, than if it had not been cursed. How could 
legs be placed upon a serpent ten, twenty, or eighty feet in length, 
as some are known to be, so as to be of use to the reptile. 
Four legs, as quadrupeds have, could not be placed in such a 
manner, as to prevent the sagging down to the ground of all that 
part of a long serpent's body, situated between those legs : unless 
a muscular power had been conferred upon mem, so as to enable 
them to describe an arch from the place where the legs might be 
inserted, sufficient to prevent their bodies from being exposed to so 
great an inconvenience, as that of sweeping the ground between-; 
as a muscular power sufficient to enable a long snake to keep 
itself in a horizontal line, would be unnatural, and monstrous, — 
requiring the creature's whole strength, to perpetually maintain 
this position ; and besides, this together with the legs, would en- 
tirely destroy the fine evolving motions of the serpent; and 
annihilate the identity of the creature altogether : so that if this 
were the case, we should have no snake at all. The serpent has 
no organs of speech, nor any kind of voice, as all other animals 
have, but can only hiss. There is however, one exception to this 
trait of the history of serpents, and this is concerning the crested 
Basilisk of India, which, it is said, has a veiy loud and horrid 
cry, of which we shall soon give a more full account. 

On account of the evident want of capacity in the serpent to 
answer the creature of the text, » we are obliged," says Adam 
Clarke, u to seek some other creature, to designate the Nach-ash t 
rather than the common snake, as generally believed, which oa 
every view of the subject appears inapplicable." We have seen, 



$6 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN* 

according to the above writer, that one of the ideal meanings of 
the root of all these words, namely, Cha-nass, is, to seduce and 
deceive; and that K-ha-nas, or K-ha-noos means the devil, a 
wicked supernatural spirit, in the Arabic, and was that spirit 
who seduced Eve from G-od and truth, and then departed from 
his disguised and hidden condition, no more to appear in that 
form. " It therefore appears that a creature of the Ape species, 
fs intended instead of a snake, and that Satan made use of the 
former, as the most proper instrument for the accomplishment of 
his murderous purposes, against the life and soul of man. 7 ' 

The creature, whatever it was, according to the text, stood at 
the head of the whole animal world, and as the Ape genus, are 
known to be more cunning, and subtle, than any other beast of 
the field, we are justified in selecting the Orang-outang, as the 
identical creature, which Satan made use of on the occasion of 
Eve's ruin ; because the Orang-outang stands at the head of the 
whole simia race, and is in this way proven to be the subtilist, or 
most intellectual animal of the whole creation — man alone excep- 
ted. " It is evident," says Clarke, "from the structure of the limbs 
of this creature, that it originally went upright, like a man, and 
that nothing but a sovereign controlling power, could have indu- 
ced it to put down hands, which in every respect are formed like 
those of man, and compelled the race to go on all fours, like 
those animals which have hoofs and paws, instead of hands/' 

If it is objected to this, that the Orang-outang, in its natural 
state, goes erect, even now, and therefore cannot be the creature, 
intended in the text of Moses, — we have it to reply, that the erect 
position of the animal is assumed but occasionally, and is evi- 
dently a labored action, resorted to only when the creature is 
forced to it, as in descending a steep place, being pursued, or 
when it fights in close combat. But as much can be said of a 
dog, or a bear, which frequently fight standing on their hinder 
legs ; and the latter can even run in that position, and no one ever 
thought of believing that bears go erect naturally and of choice y 
when not compelled by some unavoidable reason. The Orang- 
outang is an animal, which approaches very near in form, to our 
race, differing in conformation, only in the creature's having two 
vertebra, or joints of the spinal bone, less than man, — and in its 
feet being hands, with a thumb on each, as well as its hands ; by 
which we perceive the creature, says Dr. Clarke, was at first 
adapted to climbing r as well as to walking or running upright ; the 
former of which, that of climbing, they yet retain, and excel all 
other animals, dwelling when they please, in the tops of the 
thick forests of India. No man can view an animal of this kind, 
especially the Pongo Orang-outang, and not be impressed with a 
feeling of certainty, of its intellectual approach to the human spe- 
cies, above all other creatures. But when it acts T its subtUty^ 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 17 

cunning, and intellectual condition, is at once perceived, still 
more than at rest ; as there is a steadiness in its manner of con- 
templating objects, — a readiness, and aptitude to learn, and to 
seem to comprehend, when instructed, as is evident to all who 
have witnessed their exploits; even the common Ape, — a crea- 
ture, much below the Orang-outang in intellectual endowments, 
an animal of the same genus, will do astonishing feats of horse- 
manship, and other imitations of human performances, at the 
word of command, or bare signal of its master, as is often witnes- 
sed in the menageries of the country. 

Of this creature, the Orang-outang, naturalists relate, that in 
their native woods, in a wild condition, some of them are very 
large and strong, exceeding by a considerable amount, the ordi- 
nary size of men, being sometimes found full six feet in height, 
when stretched up erect, being very savage and fierce, often kill- 
ing the negroes, when they happen to meet in the forests of Afri- 
ca, and places where they are found. They are more than a 
match for the elephant, as they can hurl stones and clubs with 
great violence and precision, with infiiate grimmace and horrid 
gestures, so that the elephant is glad to escape so crafty an enemy. 
At the time when Alexander the Great was in India, where he 
had been led on by his love of war — he met a host, or small army 
of Orang-outangs, and from their formidable appearance, naked, 
hairy, horrible, and menacing attitudes, he was induced to make 
ready to give them battle, in case they came too nigh; but 
whether a light took place, is not relateel by the historian. 
But Hamw, the Carthaginian general, having met with a simi- 
lar encounter, on an island near the coast of Africa, did in 
reality, not only make ready his men for the battle, but actually 
fought a small army of these creatures, — whose clubs and stones 
were found insufficient to cope with the spears, slings, and swords 
of Hanno's soldiers: fell therefore, in great numbers : and being 
frightened by the yells of the army, and sound of the drums and 
trumpets, fled to the forests, leaving to the Carthaginians the 
field and the victims. Several of these Hanno caused to be skin- 
'ned, salted, sewed up, and stuffed with dry grass, and con- 
veyed to Carthage, where they were placed in the temple of Juno, 
queen of heaven, and were found there, when that city was 
taken by the Romans. Amcr?Enc vol. 26, letters OR A. 

From these accounts, we see this creature is capable of plotting 
and making resistance in defence of its native haunts, in a man- 
ner very, much resembling the actions of men, even acting in 
concert. No mere animal can ascend as high in cultivation as 
the Orang-outang, their memories being exceedingly retentive, 
much more so, than any other beast of the creation. 

In proof of this, we give the following accounts. There was 
an Orang-outang, carried from some part of Africa, in a Dutch 



18 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

vessel to Holland, which, while on hoard, fell sick. The physi- 
cian of the ship, took it in his head to bleed the creature, the same 
as he would a man ; after which, it grew better and soon recov- 
ered. But what was their surprise, when, before the voyage 
was finished, the Orang-outang, on again feeling itself in pain, 
from ill-health, went to the men, making signs to be again bled 
in its arm, remembering the ease it experienced from the former 
operation. Is not this a proof, that the animal has in a wonder- 
ful degree, the power of reflecting, and of combining circumstan- 
ces, so as to make deductions, approaching very near to that of 
man, — falling short however, of absolute moral capacity. 

A traveller in the island of Java, — a tropical country, situate 
at the southern extremity of the Chinese sea, — relates, that he 
saw there, a female Orang-outang, which was so well educated, 
that it made its own bed, as a human being would, and then 
laid down upon it, with her head upon the pillow, — which was 
stuffed with straw, or dry grass, — covering up her body with the 
cfuilt ; this she did at night, when she desired to sleep. When 
her head ached, she would tie a handkerchief round it, having 
been instructed to do so by the person who owned her. 

Vosman gives an account of one of these animals, which was 
brought to Holland, in 1776, and presented to the Prince of Orange. 
It was about two and a half Rhenish feet high. In its manners, it 
was grave and melancholy. It was exceedingly fond of the com- 
pany of man. When company — which often visited it — retired, 
so that it was left alone, it would throw itself on the ground, ma- 
king lamentable cries, showing all the signs of grief and despair, 
a human being could — speech alone excepted. When the keep- 
er appeard, it seemed comforted, and would make signs for him 
to come close by, shaking up, and spreading out the dry 
grass of its bed, for him to sit upon. It used the fork and spoon, 
in eating, in the same manner men do, to convey food to the 
mouth, as if it were a human being. 

" There is even now, in the Museum of Natural History, in 
Paris, a young Orang-outang, brought from Sumatra. This not 
only possesses great docility, but seems to understand many of 
the feelings and actions of man ; he is sensible of reproof, and 
sheds tears and pants when scolded, as a child would do. He 
imitates with great skill what he sees done, and even invents ap- 
propriate means, well fitted to attain his ends, when he meets 
with obstacles. For example, when he was unable to catcji a 
little dog, more nimble than himself, which had been placed in 
his room as its companion, and found himself worsted in the 
pursuit, he seized upon the end of a rope, suspended in the 
middle of the room, and swinging, leaped in every direction, till 
he caught the dog. At another time he tried to open the door, 
as his master had done, with the key : but having put the wrong 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 19 

end of it into the lock, he soon however, perceived the mistake, 
took it out and put in the other end. 

In the year 1817, there was brought by a Doct. Abel, from 
Java to England, an Orang-outang ; the account of which, we 
here extract from the Penny Magazine, vols. 1 and 2, page 
157, for the year 1832, as follows: "The Orang-outang, on 
his arrival in Java, was allowed to be entirely at liberty, till 
within a few days of being put on board the Ccesar to be convey- 
ed to England, and whilst at large, made no attempt to escape : 
but became violent, when put in a large railed bamboo cage, for 
the purpose of being conveyed from the Island. As soon as he 
felt himself in confinement, he took the rails of the cage in his 
hands, and shaking them violently, endeavored to break them 
in pieces, but finding that they did not yield, generally ; he then 
tried them separately, and soon discovering one weaker than the 
rest, worked at it constantly, till he had broken it out and made 
his escape. He was again captured, and taken on board the 
ship, where an attempt was made to secure him to a strong sta- 
ple by a cord, which he instantly untied with his fingers, as rea- 
dily as a man could have done, and ran off with the chain drag- 
ging behind ; but finding himself embarrassed by its length, he 
coiled it up and threw it over his shoulders. This feat he often 
repeated ; and when he found it would not remain on his shoul- 
ders, he took into his mouth. They now allowed him freely to 
wander about the ship, as he showed no disposition to leap over- 
board, and soon became familiar with the sailors, greatly surpass- 
ing them in agility. They would often chase him about the 
rigging, which gave him frequent opportunity of displaying his 
ability in managing to get away from them. On first starting- 
he would endeavor to outstrip his pursuers by mere speed, but 
when hard pressed, would elude them by seizing a loose rope, 
and swinging out of their reach. At other times he would pa- 
tiently wait on the shrouds, or at the mast-head, till his pursu- 
ers almost touched him, and then suddenly lower himself to the 
deck by any rope, that was near him, or bound along the main- 
stay, from one mast to another, or swinging by his hands, 
moving them one over the other, the same as a man would do. 
When in a playful humor, he would often swing by some loose 
rope, within arms' length of his pursuer, and having struck 
him with his hand which was at liberty, would throw himself 
from him, with all the alertness and sport of a human being. 
He commonly slept at mast-haad, — after wrapping himself in 
a sail ; in making his bed, he would use the greatest pains to re- 
move every thing out of his way, which might render the surface 
on which he intended to lie, uneven ; and having satisfied him- 
self with this part of his arrangement, would spread out the 
sail, and lying down upon it, drawing it over his body, with all 



20 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

the sign3 of reason on the point, which seemed necessary ibr the 
occasion. Off the Cape of Good Hope, he suffered much from 
cold, especially early in the morning, — when he would descend 
from his sleeping place on the top of the mast, shudering with 
cold, and running up to any one of his friends, would climb into 
his arms, and clasping them closely, till he felt himself growing 
warm, — screaming violently at any attempt to take him away. 
In his attempts to obtain food, while on board the vessel, he offer- 
ed many opportunities of judging of his sagacity and disposition. 
He was always very impatient to seize it, when held out to him, 
and became passionate when it was not soon given up, and 
would chase a person all over the ship to obtain it. Sometimes, 
says Doct. Abel, I would endeavor to evade him by ascending to 
the mast-head, but was always overtaken or intercepted in my 
progress. But if he found it impossible to overtake, on •account 
of my having somehow got the start of him, he would climb to a 
considerable height on the loose rigging, and then drop suddenly 
upon me, and rifle me of the food in my pockets. But if I, per- 
ceiving his intentions, attempted to descend, before he could 
alight upon me in that way, he would quickly slide down some 
rope, and meet me at the bottom of the shrouds, and then obtain 
his desires. Sometimes I would fasten on orange at the end of 
a rope, and lower it from aloft to the deck, but as soon as he 
attempted "to seize it, drew it rapidly up out of his reach. After 
being several times foiled in this way. by endeavoring to obtain 
it by direct means, he would then alter his plait, by appearing to 
care very little about it, — removing to some distance, and ascend 
some piece of rigging very leisurely for some time ; then by a 
sudden spring, would catch the rope, to which it was fastened. 
But if defeated again, by my suddenly jerking it away, he would 
at first seem quite in despair, relinquish his efforts, and rush 
about the rigging, screaming violently; yet he would always 
return, to a renewed trial, till he could seize the rope,— disregard- 
ing the jerking, and allow it to run through one of his hands, till 
within reach of the orange, and thus obtain it. The animal nei- 
ther practised the grimmace, nor antics of other monkies, nor 
possessed their perpetual proneness to mischief. Gravity ap- 
proaching to mildness and melancholly, were sometimes strongly 
expressed in his countenance. When he first came among stran- 
gers, he would sit for hours with his hand upon his head, look- 
ing pensively at all around him." 

On board the same ship, there were several monkies, of which 
the Orang-outang would take no notice, when seen by any per- 
son ; and if at any time he did allow them to play with him, it 
was by stealth ; while with the boys and men of the ship, he 
would romp and play, freely and eagerly. At -one time he was 
detected in an attempt to throw a cage of small monkies into the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 23 

sea, as if he knew that water could kill them, — but was prevented 
by the sailors ; this he did — it was .supposed — because he had 
noticed that f:od was given them, — which he desired himself. 
This Orang-outang remained in England nearly two years, 
when it fell sick and died : during which, it mourned and seemed 
afflicted, nearly as much as a human creature could have 
been, and seemed to implore assistance, and relief from pain, of 
such as stood near him. This animal was but a small one of 
the species, being but about two and a half feet high ; while 
some have been seen in their native woods, as large as men ; but 
invariably go on all fours, except under particular circumstances. 

What animal of the earth, can compete with this, in giving 
evidence of intellectual subtilty, and approach to man, — as ap- 
pears from the foregoing accounts ? None, we may fearlessly 
state ; proving, as we deem, that this is the creature pointed out 
in the text. This is the species of animal, one of which Satan, 
the fallen angel, an invisible spirit, made use of to hide him- 
self in, to deceive the woman,— by inspiring it with the gift of 
speech, and faculty of more than human reasoning, for the time 
being. In its upright form, which no doubt, was its original 
position, well agreeing, in this particular, with the purpose of the 
evil one; we see the animal, earnestly soliciting, and reasoning 
with the woman: — heaping argument en argument, with ad- 
dress, volubility, and eloquence ; more vehement and ravishing, 
than ever echoed in the halls cf Greek or Roman eloquence ; 
attended witii attitudes and tact of persuasion, beyond all mortal 
power; with blandishments infinite, to allure the woman, in 
pursuit of knowledge, to pluck the fruit of that tree. (Sec the 
Plate.) 

The mind educated to believe the animal was not a creature 
of the Ape genus, but a serpent, would do well to recollect, 
that the terms, as found in Genesis, u on thy belly shaft thou go," 
are far from, saying, — on thy belly shalt thou creep : as going, 
or walking, is very different horn the creeping, or crawling mo- 
tions of the snake ; plainly showing, that to go en four feet cr 
hands, is to go as pointed out in the text. Is it possible to con- 
ceive an idea more preposterous, than that a long tissue cf a 
creature, such as the snake is, could ever have walked or gone 
upright, on the sharp end of its tail. If it is said, that it might 
originally, have had legs and feet : yet we cannot perceive, where 
they could have been placed, to any advantage to the creature, as 
they evidently must have been in its way. But, if to this, it is 
replied, that God, when he cursed the animal, took its legs off, 
and laid the creature out straight on its belly; we in our turn, 
reply, by asking the authority for such a notion, — as there is no 
allusion in the text, to any dismemberment of the animal. We 
have another argument, to advance against the animal's having 



24 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

been a creature, which crept on its belly, as does the snake ; and 
this arises out of the phraseology of the curse, which reads, — 
"cursed art thou above all cattle" Now, are cattle classed 
with snakes, or reptiles? Do snakes belong to quadrupeds? 
Are they so classed in the science of zoology? No, they 
are not : and never have been, in any age of the world, but be- 
long to the reptile division of nature. The word Cattle, in the 
Hebrew, is Behema, and distinguishes all those lands of animals 
not belonging to fishes, reptiles, fowls, or insects :— but to beasts, 
which walk on the earth, with four feet. But Serpents are 
classed among reptiles, — and consequently, could never, with 
propriety, have been thus alluded to, as a part of the creatures, 
belonging to such as the Divine Being, has in the text denounced 
Cattle, or Behema. 

By some, however, this meaning is denied, who are determined 
to believe that the creature was a mere snake : and contend that 
the phraseology,— cursed art thou above all cattle, — meant: 
cursed art thou above all kinds of animals : whether of beasts, 
fishes, fowls, reptiles, or insects. But as the term Cattle, or Be- 
hema, is not descriptive of all kinds of animals, existing under 
all possible forms and circumstances, we conclude, that the crea- 
ture belonged to that division of nature, called Behema, or it 
would have been said: cursed art thou above every creature 
under heaven, instead of — all cattle. 

But says the querist, how is this? — could the Orang-outang, 
have been classed with creatures which went on four feet, when 
it is supposed that it went upright on two, like men ? Yes, is 
our reply ; it may so have been, on account of its arms being of 
great length : much longer, than those of man ; and because the 
Divine Being, knowing his own purpose of then reducing this 
hitherto exalted animal, to the condition of all cattle, — namely, 
go on four feet. But, says the querist, how is it, that this animal 
is cursed more than any other creature ? Does it not in all res- 
pects enjoy itself, as an animal, as well as all other beings of the 
creation? Our answer is: no doubt it does, as it cannot know 
anything of its former shape, or attitude ; yet in its motions, — 
whether upright, or on all fours— there is a strange shambling 
awkwardness, which characterises the creature,— not accompa- 
nying the motions of any other animal of the whole creation : 
which marks it as having been cursed, and changed from its first 
erect and easy position of action. That the animal originally 
went upright, like a man, is shown, from the words of Moses : — 
:i on thy belly shalt thou go ;" or these words are without mean- 
ing, and the curse a solemn nothing. If it is enquired, whether 
the Orang-outang, or any of the Ape genus eat dust : as the text 
reads, — " dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life : ;? it is an- 
swered, they do; inasmuch as they now are entirely indif- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRlPTt'HES, 25 

ferellt to the circumstance of their food being in, or among 
the dust of the ground ; but was not originally so> having in 
their upright position picked their food, which was the fruit of 
the woods, from the boughs, with their fingers, clean and pure, as 
produced from the bud and flowers of the trees, — unmigled with 
the dust of the ground. Dust, of itself, imparts no nourishment 
to any creature, and is never taken into the stomach of any ani- 
mal, except by accident, or for some property, it often possesses, 
which is detected by the senses : siich as salts, sacharine, &c. 
On this very account, we learn that the eating of dust, as the 
text reads, must take place, only in the act of receivering other 
food : as it is incapable of sustaining animal life, and could never 
have meant that dust was to be the only food of any creature. 

But to those who will believe a snake was the animal, we 
ask : does the snake, of any kind, subsist on dust ? We answer, 
no : — as flesh, living flesh is the food of all the serpent tribes, or 
otherwise, they eat nothing : but upon this, they feed, even to 
surfeiting, so as to disable them from crawling, — exceeding all 
bounds, except their own unconscionable stomachs. 

This fact is of itself sufficient, without one additional reason 
to veto the idea of the creature having been a serpent, — such as 
is commonly supposed. But, whatever this subtilist beast, or 
Behema of all the field, or world, was : we cannot suppose with 
some, who are of great account in the learned world, that it had 
naturally, the power of speech. The power of speech, so as to 
articulate words, conveying distinct ideas, supposes the presence 
of a rational soul, and of an intellectual mind, — which great and 
inestimable gift, is denied to all brute existences. It is true, how- 
ever, that the animal in question, was found holding a conversa- 
tion by articulate sounds, and intellectual reasoning, with the first 
Avoman : which at once proves it was inspired by some power 
superior to itself, which we believe to have been a bad, or evil 
power, and such an evil power as the Scriptures are commonly 
understood to assign to the nature of the devil, — whose character, 
and being, we shall in due time and order examine. If we admit 
the animal had naturally, the ability of reasoning, and gift of 
speech ; we at once plunge into a number of strange absurdities, 
no less amusing than foolish. The first absurdity, is : we are 
presented with an instance of a mere brute, having a reasonable 
soul, — or it could not have been capable of articulate speech, — 
and consequently of rational thought, and powers of argumenta- 
tion. A second absurdity, is : we are presented with a dumb 
beast, which knew far more of the Law cf God, and of the con 
sequencer of breaking it, than even the man and wo:nan— os 
perfect as tfoey were; of whom it is said in Scripture, that lie 
was created, head and superior, of all the works of God, belong- 



26 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

lag to the earth ; but this animal knew more, on the abstruse 
points of moral law, than both of them together. A third absur- 
dity follows on this supposition, which is this : the animal, and 
consequently its whole race, were very likely to have become the 
teachers and monitors, of the human family, as we see they had, 
in the instance of this leading animal, already commenced a 
course of instruction, even on theology, when as yet, the two 
first of the human race, were in a state of sinless perfection. But 
if we believe some evil being, such as the Scriptures make Satan 
to be, entered into the organs of the animal's brain, and influenced 
it for the time being, causing it to utter words, accompanied with 
accurate reasoning powers, then we avoid the foregoing difficul- 
ties and absurdities. 

But Universalists however, deny that there was any animal 
in the case, interpreting the whole affair, as descriptive of what 
they call the lusts of Eve, even before she had sinned. But as 
we shall have much to say on this subject, before we finish the 
work, we desist far the present, and. bring forward in our next 
chapter, an account of serpents, and the arguments in favor of one 
of the species, having been the instrument of Satan in deceiving 
Ev r e, according to the popular opinion — instead cf an Orang- 



Argumenis and Ancient Tradition tvhich go to prove, hi the 
estimation of many, that a Snake was the Animal of tf#e 
Text of Moses, made nse of as an Instrument bp Satan to, 
deceive the First Woman, preluded by the opinion of Mil- 
ton on that subject, as expressed in his Paradise Lost. 

But notwithstanding the foregoing remarks, respecting the 
identity of the animal called in the book cf Genesis, the snbtilist 
beasi of all the field, we shall in this chapter, introduce to the 
reader's notice,, other opinions, respecting that matter. The 
populai 4 , though in all probability, erroneous belief, that a snake 
was the instrument, by which Satan ruined our common parents, 
has obtained in all ages, and lias spread abroad en the wide 
wings of tradition, and flown to the ends of the world : as all 
nations have in some shape, accounts of the seduction cf the first 
woman, by a serpent, which tradition has obtained, even among 
the aboriginal Indians of both South and North America. Hum- 
boldt, in his researches in Mexico, found in their parchment 
books, the story of that occurrence, recorded by a picture paint- 
ing, which exhibits a serpent, standing on the extreme point, or 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 29 

end of its tail, in the act of conversing with a woman, by vibra- 
ting its forked tongue. 

Upon the supposition of the animal having been a snake, Mil- 
ton, the prince of poets, has beautifully told the story, in blank 
verse, in his Paradise Lost, which we will here briefly repeat 
in prose. From this writer's views, it appears, that after the fall 
of the angels, — who kept not their first estate, and had seconded 
the rebellion of Lucifer , and had been cast down Irom heaven to 
hell, with their great chief: that he made his escape from this 
prison, — which is situated somewhere in space, far beyond the 
^bounds of the rest of creation, — and found his way to the Sun, 
where he seems to have halted awhile in his flight, for the purpose 
of observation. From so conspicuous a place, he viewed the 
several planets, or worlds, which roll in their orbits around 
the sun. And now remembering an ancient prophecy once 
rumored among the angels of heaven, before his fall, that a cer- 
tain world was to be created, which .should be inhabited by a 
race of beings, extremely singular, who were to be endowed with 
corporeal bodies, of a peculiar shape, and with minds, but little 
inferior to themselves, and were to be beloved by the Creator, in ?, 
very tender degree. But which of the worlds, then in view, was 
the one, he could not make out : or whether it belonged to tiie 
family of the sun, on which he then stood, as there were others 
in sight, rolling through the vast ocean of space. But from this 
dilemma of uncertainty, respecting the exact globe which con- 
tained the singular race called m&n, he was relieved by the sud- 
den appearance of a youthful angel, who came flying on the 
easy pinions of excursive discovery, among the works of God. 
Of this youthful angel, Satan was resolved to enquire : but first, 
in a twinkling of light, before he should be discovered by the 
journeying seraph, he changed his shape and habiliments, from 
those of a thunder-scarred, and hell-burnt fugitive, with shorn 
and sooty wings, to those of a stripling angel, clothed with the 
bright and nappy rays of heaven. (See the Plate.) 

This done, Satan by a flutter of his wings, attracted the ear of 
the heavenly traveller,, who in a moment, from celestial courtsey, 
let fall his gorgeous wings — which from his shoulders to his feet, 
clad him round with a starry brightness, — and bowed him low, 
as heavenly spirits are wont to do, when they meet. But Satan, 
not a whit behind in good manners, being thus compelled by 
his own duplicity, also bowed in return. Compliments being 
ended, Satan, with submissive voice, as became his seeming 
youth, enquired which of all the worlds in sight, was the abode of 
man, as much he said, he wished to see and to admire this late 
display of creative power and wisdom. The angel which he 
here fell in with, was according to Milton, Uriel, one of the seven 
swift winged ministers of the throne of God, who were ever ready 

3 



30 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

to bear the commands of the Eternal to all worlds ; who stood in 
waiting, in an attitude of heavenly condescension, to the enqui- 
ring seraph, as in a moment he pointed out our globe ; when each 
waving a hand in token of departure^ they spread their wings 
aloft ; Uriel onward shot, as from his pinions there went fortbTa 
sweet perfume, filling a wide circuit of the sky; while Satan, 
plunged him headlong down to the ecliptic, nor stayed his rapid 
flight till his feet stood on the summit of a blooming mountain, 
in the very circuit of Paradise. 

He now betook himself to the task of ascertaining the habitation 
of those singular beings : whom he soon descried in a beautiful 
bower, laden with fruit, and that they were male and female, a 
condition to Satan, wholly till now, unknown. He now disap- 
peared, or became invisible, and stood beside them unseen, and 
listened to their conversation : by which he learned their moral 
condition, and that they were under restraint in one — and but 
one particular, and this was respecting a certain tree, and its 
fruit, which he found Was forbidden them, and was meant as a 
test of love and obedience, while all things else beneath the 
whole heaven was theirs to enjoy. On the forehead of the man, 
and on his limbs, was seen and known the stamp of God-like 
work, though formed of matter, a thing till now never conceived 
of by this sining angel. But most of all, there burned the mild 
fires of heavenly origin in the eyes of Adam, beaming forth in 
serene, but commanding majesty, the very image of the invisible 
God, as it was there he met the heaven-abashing power of high 
and holy intelligence in its brilliancy, though connected with 
unthinking matter. There was also the companion of Adam, a 
female glowing in holy beauty, fearful to look upon, so bright 
and fulgent were the glories of her person, which was shaded 
to the feet, with shining golden locks, full and redundant, as the 
rays of a morning sun, which played in the softly moving winds, 
like the very fibres of life, in joyous assemblage. She also was 
formed as man, but more soft and tenderly made, in every limb 
and feature, while in her eyes, there was the heaven of mildness, 
pouring forth their beams, as the fountains of life, beneath the 
sapphire throne of bliss. He heard them commune of joys: 
while each turned on the other looks of sweetness, beyond com- 
pare ; this moved his malice and hatred, which as a hell of 
moulten iron within his heart, raged a tempest; when Satan 
resolved their ruin, and straightway put in requisition all his 
wiles, as he knew they could not be destroyed, except by being 
induced to disobey that one only law, or prohibition, of the tree 
and its fruit. Wherefore, it was not long ere he discovered the 
Serpent, or snake to be the subtilist beast of all the field, or ani- 
mals of the earth, and having found one of a prodigious size, 
and withal exceedingly beautiful, being covered with green and 
gold, striped and spotted with every shade and hue of the rain- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 31 

bow, or that tips the wings of beauteous fowls, and flowers of 
earth, so ranged and mingled, that it seemed a creature fit to be 
gazed upon even by angels. Into this serpent, in a moment Satan 
transfused himself, being a spirit, and took his seat in the brain ; 
by which he soon gave tone to the organs of the creature, so that 
speech rolled as fluently from his fiery tongue, as from the lips 
of Eve herself. But according to this author, the incomparable 
Milton, the serpent was not then as now, prone on the ground, 
winding its way over the earth like a contemptible worm, dragging 
its snakey folds far behind ; but was formed in a coil, a tower of 
rising folds, like a cable to some stately ship, which the sailor 
bends in a ring, on the ample deck of a man of war, while its 
head, with eyes of carbuncle or diamond, towered aloft, viewing 
all things far and wide, privileged in this respect also, as in the 
gift of cunning, above all the other beasts. Its motion, in this 
form, was rapid as the whirlwind, moving round and round, on 
its own base, with a quivering velocity, and seemed a rushing 
flame, while its head on high, kept its course, with eyes so bright 
and sparkling, that stars seemed to leap forth on the air, as the 
creature in its swiftness, rushed over the plains. 

Such was the animal, and such the original manner of its mo- 
tions, till God, by the curse, <•' on thy belly shalt thou go," (creep) 
straightened it on the ground, according to Milton. ^ By which 
we certainly think the creature was the gainer, as its present mode 
of moving is far better adapted to pass over rough ground, water 
or marshy places and mountainous districts, than in its upright 
or pyramidal form. [See the plate.) 

We have said a few pages since, that the tradition of all na- 
tions, favors the belief that the animal was a snake, which Satan 
made use of to deceive the first woman, and this we now proceed 
to show. But whether it should be allowed to prove any thing, 
as to its real identity, must be left to the reader after all. On this 
curious subject, under the head serpent, see Watson's Theo- 
logical Dictionary, 1832, as follows : — " In Egypt and other 
oriental countries a serpent was the common symbol of a power- 
ful monarch ; it was embroidered on the robes of princes, and 
blazoned on their diadems, to signify their power and invincible 
might, and that as the wound inflicted by the basilisk is incu- 
rable, so the fatal effects of the displeasure of kings were neither 
to be avoided nor endured. The basilisk is of a redish color, and 
its head is adorned with a crown in the form of a cone of a bright 
yellow ; it is not entirely prostrate, like other serpents, but runs 
with its head and half its body erect, the hinder part sweeping 
the ground as it moves. On these accounts, its crown and half 
erect position, the symbol of tins serpent was preferred to all crea- 
tures, as a token of regal power. This fact is attested by the 
Arabian name of this serpent, which is melecha, from the Hebrew 
verb malach, to reign ; and was therefore considered the king- 



32 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

of serpents. In. agreement with which, it is said that all other 
serpents acknowledge the superiority of the basilisk, by flying its 
presence, and hiding from its sight. This serpent is supposed tc 
live longer than any other. The ancient heathen have therefore- 
pronounced it immortal, and placed it among the number of their 
gods. This species of serpent, it appears, is still found in the 
mountains of India, growing to a great size, covered with scales^ 
resplendant with burnished gold, having a kind of beard hanging 
from their lower jaw, which renders their aspect exceedingly 
frightful, while they have a cry, shrill and fearful," a circum- 
stance attending no other serpent in being, as the voice of the ser- 
pent species, except this, is but a hiss. " The trait which distin- 
guishes this dreadful serpent as belonging to the basilisk family, 
is its crown of bright yellow/' growing on its head in the manner 
of the dung hill cock, " with a protuberance projecting out beside 
it as red as a burning coal." (&ee the plate.) 

There are other serpents of India which are very dreadful, 
among which are -the great li-boa and anaconda, the real drag- 
ons of the ancients. *< To these serpents rites were devised, tem- 
ples built to their honor, and priests appointed to conduct the 
ceremonies of their worship. These miserable idolaters, appeared 
before the altars of their serpent deities in gorgeous vestments, 
their heads arrayed with real serpents, or with the figures of 
serpents, embroidered on their tiaras, while with frantic exclama- 
tions they cried out, Eva I Eva ! which exclamation is thought 
by some to have been in evident allusion, to the triumph, the old 
serpent, the devil, obtained over our first mother Eve. In conse- 
quence of this, some do not doubt, but the snake was indeed, the 
very instrument of Satan ; and in pursuance of this idea they sup- 
pose the evil spirit was permitted to insult our fallen race, by exalt- 
ing the serpent, his chosen instrument in accomplishing our ruin, 
to the first place among the deities of the heathen world, and to be 
reverenced by the most sober and solemn acts of worship. The 
figures of serpents adorned the portals of the proudest temples of 
the east : the serpent was a very common symbol of the sun, and 
is represented biting its own tail with its body formed in a circle, 
in order to indicate the ordinary course of this luminary, and 
under this form, it was m emblem of both time and eternity. A 
serpent was the symbol of medicine, and of the gods which pre- 
sided over it, as of Apollo and Esculapius. In most of the an- 
cient rites is found some allusion to the serpent under the titles 
of Ob, Ops, Python, &c. In the orgies of Bacchus, says Bry- 
ant, the persons who partook of the ceremonies, used to carry 
serpents in their hands, and with horrid screams call out Eva, 
Eva; being according to the author just named, the same as 
Itlpha, or Opha, which the Greeks rendered Ophis, denoting a 
serpent ; but having no allusion to Eve as supposed by some. 
These ceremonies, and this serpent worship, began among the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 35 

Magi, who were the sons of disk, the children of Ham, the 
son of Noah, and by them was propagated in various parts of the 
world. Wherever this people founded any place of worship, and 
introduced their rites, there was generally some' horrid story of a 
serpent. There was a legend of a serpent at Colchis, in Egypt, 
at Thebes, in the same country, and at other places. The 
Greeks called Apollo himself, Pythian, (the destroyer of a mon- 
strous serpent bred in the mud of the deluge,) which is the same 
as oupis, or onb, and is a serpent. In Egypt there was a ser- 
pent named Thermutlus, which was looked upon as very sacred, 
the likeness of which the natives are said to have used as a royal 
tiara, with which they ornamented the statues of Isis, their ox 
god. The kings of Egypt wore high bonnets terminating in a 
round ball, surrounded with figures of asps ; their priests also 
had the figures of serpents on their bonnets," which they wore 
in the temples of their gods. 

" Abaddon, the destroyer, mentioned in Rev. ix. 11, as a name 
of the devil, is supposed by Mr. Bryant to have been the name 
of the ophite, or snake god, with whose worship the world had 
teen long infested. This worship began among the people of 
Ohaldea, who built the city of Ophis, [or snake city] on the river 
Tigris, and were greatly addicted to divination, and the worship 
of serpents. From Chaldea this worship passed into Egypt, 
where the serpent deity was called Canoph, Caneph, and Ghieph. 
It also had the name of Ob, or Oub, and was the same as Basi- 
lisk, or Basiliscus, the same as the Egyptian Thermuthis, and 
made use of by way of ornament to the statues of their gods. 
As the worship of the serpent began among the sons of Gush," 
the father of the African or Negro nations, the descendants of 
Ham, " Mr. Bryant conjectures that from thence they were de- 
nominated Ethiopians, and xithiopians, from Aih-ope, or Ath- 
opes, the god whom they worshipped, and not from their com- 
plexion. The Ethiopians brought their rites into Greece, and 
called the island -where they first established themselves, Elo- 
phia fSolis Serpentis insula ; the same with Eubosa or Ou- 
boia, that is, the Serpent island, or where the ophis, or snakes, 
were worshipped. The same learned writer discovers traces of 
the serpent worship among the Hyperboreans, at Rhodes, in 
what is now called Finance, named Ophiusa, in Phrygia, and 
upon the Hellespont, in the island of Cyprus, in Crete, among 
the Athenians, in the name of Cccrops, among the natives of 
Thebes, in Bostia, among the Lacedemonians, in Italy, in Syria, 
&c. and in the names of "many places, as well as people, where 
the Ophites settled. 

One of the earliest heresies introduced into the Christian 
church was that of the Ophites who held serpents as emblematical 
of supernatural power, the traits of which are still seen on many 
of their medals, the relics of Gnosticism, which are still extant, 



36 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

specimens of which are shown toward the close of this work, in 
fac similie. 

The form assumed, or animal used by the tempter, when he 
seduced our first parents, has been handed down in the traditions 
of the most ancient nations ; and though animals of the serpent 
tribes were generally worshipped by the pagans, as symbols of 
the agaihademon, they were likewise considered the types or 
figures of the evil being. One of the most remarkable accounts 
of the primeval tempter, under the shape of a serpent, occurs in 
the Zendavesta of the ancient Persians, a book on theology and 
the worship of the gods. The dragon, or Ah-riman of the Per- 
sians, and the malignant serpent Caliga of Hindoo theology, 
appear to be closely allied. This dragon of the Persians is rep - 
resented as the decided enemy of the mediatorial god, whom he 
persecutes with the utmost fury : though, as the Zendavesta 
teaches, he is finally to be vanquished by his celestial opponent, 
the mediatorial god." But from whom did the Persians derive 
their idea of a mediator? We answer, from Melchisadec, the son 
of Noah. 

" The serpent Typhon, of the Egyptians, who is sometimes 
identified with the ocean, because the deluge was esteemed as 
the work of the evil being, and the serpent Python, or Apolyou, 
of the Greeks, who is evidently the same as that of the Egyp- 
tians, appear to have the same origin, which was a tradition of 
the form which Satan assumed when in Paradise. Perhaps also 
the belief that the serpent Python or Typhon was once ora- 
cular, or had a human voice, which caused the so frequent use 
of serpents in their rites of divination, arose from a tradition of 
the vocal responses which the tempter gave to Eve, under the 
borrowed form of the serpent. We may still ascribe to the same 
source, that rebellious serpent, whose treason seems to have 
been so well remembered among the inhabitants of Syria. 
Pherecydes, a native of Syria, bestows upon him the Greek- 
name of OphioneuSy or the serpent god ; yet extends his view of 
him, under the name of Ophioneus, as being the prince of those 
evil spirits who once contended with the supreme god, Cronus, 
who cast them out of heaven. Their happiness being thus justly 
forfeited, they henceforth were plunged into the depths of Tar- 
tarus, in the fiery bowels of the deep, hateful and hating each 
other. 

From Syria and the east, this history passed into Greece, min- 
gled, however, with allusions to the deluge. The same evil 
being, in the same form, appears again in the mythology of the 
Goths, or Sythians. We are told by the ancient scalds, or bards, 
that the evil being, whom they denominate Lokc, unites great 
personal beauty with a malignant and inconstant nature ; sur- 
passing all creatures in the depths of his cunning and perfidy. 
Here the primitive glory and majesty of Satan, before the linea- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 37 

merits of celestial beauty were defaced, by his rebellious aposta- 
sy, is not obscurely alluded to ; while the craft and malevolence 
which marks his character as a fallen angel, are depicted with 
sufficient accuracy." Thus we have shown that the worship of 
serpents may be traced in almost every religion, through ancient 
Asia, Europe, and Africa. From which we derive at least this 
great fact : that the traditions of all ages and nations of the earth, 
corroborate the Mosaic account of the fall of man, by the 
machinations of an evil spirit in the disguise of some animal; 
which it is true, this tradition seems to point out as having been 
some monstrous Serpent, Snake or Dragon. 

But if the word Nachash, in the text of Moses, does not mean 
definitely the Ophi, or snake, the whole foregoing history goes 
for nothing : so far as it regards proof, as to the identity of the 
animal Satan made use of on the occasion of man's ruin. But if 
a snake was not the creature, — How then, it may be enquired, 
came this universal tradition in existence ? How is it that this 
opinion has seemed to prevail in the earliest ages, and handed 
the serpent down to posterity, as the identical animal which 
opposed the good being, the mediatorial, or redeeming god. 
and secured the worship and veneration of men ? To this we 
answer ; its worship may have been induced from its native hor- 
ror of aspect; its deadly power of poisoning, by a sting of its 
fangs ; its insiduous and silent manner of approach, so that ere 
its victim is aware, death, in the form of a terrific serpent, has 
stung life away, in dreadful agonies. No creature which God 
has made, is so universally dreaded, and so formidable, as the 
serpent, especially the larger kinds, such as the boa, the anacon- 
da, and the crested basiliscus of India. On these accounts, this 
species of animal, as we have seen, beeame early in time, the 
symbols of power, of terror, and of death, on the brows of kings 
and priests, and were chosen badges of authority, of royalty, and 
of rule among men. From this circumstance, the transition 
was easy, to that of a higher cast, even veneration, worship, 
and deification, which have been bestowed on less fearful ani- 
mals and for smaller reasons, among barbarous and ignorant 
nations. But can this circumstance account for the belief which 
prevailed in the world even before Moses wrote the book of Gen- 
esis, that the serpent was the animal which Satan made use oi 
in the ruin of man. We think it can: and on this principle, 
which was, that the serpent was then considered as the worst 
creature in the whole creation, and therefore, exactly fit for the 
worst spirit in being, to make use of, in a work so ruinous : on 
which account it was not hard to slide into this belief, after the 
time of the flood, and the history of it retained only by tradition, 
in the keeping of wandering families, and tribes. 

As to the subtilty of serpents, there is no evidence with which 
we are acquainted, unless it be their courage, their fierceness, 



38 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

their voracity, their power to charm, or fascinate, and their abil- 
ity to inspire horror. That they manifest art and calculation — 
especially those large serpents of the tropical countries — in secu- 
ring prey, is not denied ; but as much can be asserted of all kinds 
of animals. Of these kinds, their strength is irresistable, when 
brought in competition with any other creature, and their cour- 
age equal to their strength, as they will not turn aside for the 
fiercest tiger, elephant, leopard, or human being ; nay, they all 
flee its sight in the utmost consternation. When one of these 
creatures has seized its victim, even though it be a tiger of the 
largest size, it never lets go its hold, though the struggle continue 
for days before it gets the victory. Its management during such 
contests, its patience till it has the mastery, the advantage it 
secures over its victim at every struggle, certainly shows the 
creature's calculation : but as much may be said of any other 
animal. There is, it is true, a terrific majesty in the appearance 
and demeanour of a large serpent, as whoever has met with a 
rattlesnake, can testify,. This serpent will not precipitately flee 
when discovered, but if it moves at all, its motions are at its leis- 
ure, maintaining a grave majesty as it views its disturber, with 
a sideway look, as if ascertaining the nature of its enemy, as it 
retires from sight. Its manners in this respect may be compared 
to the lion, which maintains its majesty by its slow and consid- 
erate attitudes, when suddenly aroused from its lair. 

But before we leave this subject, we will give several accounts 
of the larger animals of the serpent species, as known in the trop- 
ical countries of the old world. "Not many years since, Mr. 
Edwards, the English resident in the Island of Ceylon, saw there 
a serpent which measured thirty-three feet four inches. It was 
covered with scales, ridged, or partly elevated along the back. 
Its head was of a green color, with large black spots, in the mid- 
dle, and yellow streaks around the jaws, and a yellow circle, like 
a golden collar around his neck, and behind that a black spot. 
Its head was flatish, and broad, its eyes monstrously large, very 
bright and terrible. Its sides were of a dusky olive color. Its 
back was very beautiful, a broad streak of yellow curled and 
waved at the sides ; along the edges of this, ran a narrow streak 
of flesh color, on the outsides of which was a broad streak of a 
bright yellow,, waved, colored and spotted at small distances, with 
roundish and long blotches, of a blood color. When it moved 
in the sun, it appeared exquisitely beautiful. It had coiled 
itself among the branches of a large palm tree, watching for 
its prey ; when, not long after, there passed beneath it a crea- 
ture of the fox kind, when it darted down as swift as a ray of 
light, seized it, broke its bones, and soon swallowed it ; when 
it again resumed its place among the boughs of the tree, where 
it remained during the night, which circumstance was known 
from what transpired in the morning ; which was as follows : — 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 39 

The sun was but a little way up, when there passed on its way 
beneath the fatal tree, a tiger, about the size of a yearling heifer, 
which was no sooner exactly beneath the serpent, and within 
its reach, than he darted down, seized the animal by the back 
with his teeth, at the same time twining itself several times 
around its body. It then loosened its teeth from the tiger's 
back, and griped its entire head in its mouth, tearing, grinding 
and choking it all at once, while the furious tiger resisted and 
fought to the utmost of its power. But finding it hard to con- 
quer, and the bones not easily broken, it had recourse to strata- 
gem ; which was to wind its tail around the tiger's neck, and 
drag him to the tree, against which the serpent leaned its 
victim, when it darted its coils several times round both the tiger 
and the tree, crushing him against it, till his ribs and bones were 
broken and bruised to pieces. After it had killed the tiger, with 
inexpressible torture, of about a day's continuance, the serpent, 
during the night, slavered it over with the juices of its tongue, 
and the day following swallowed it whole. This distended its 
stomach so much that it could not run ; when Mr. Edwards and 
several of the islanders assailed and killed it. Broum's Bible 
Dictionary, under the head "Serpent" 

But we have accounts which maybe relied on, of serpents of a 
much greater length," amounting even to eighty and a hundred 
and twenty feet, natives of Africa, the Indies, and of the tropical 
islands. A curious and thrilling account of the capture of one 
of these animals in Egypt is given by Diodorus Sicvlus who 
lived in the time of Augustus Csesar, the greatest historian of the 
age. " A number of hunters, says that author, encouraged by 
the munificent offers of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, resolved to bring 
him one of those serpents to Alexandria. This enormous reptile, 
thirty cubits long, (which is fifty feet) lived on the banks of a cer- 
tain river, the Nile it is likely. There he dwelt, reclined upon 
the ground, near his cave ; his body coiled in a circle ; but when 
it saw any animal approach the bank where he lay, he darted 
upon it with dreadful impetus, seized it in his jaws, or strangled 
it in the folds of his tail. The hunters descrying him from a 
distance, conceived that they should easily succeed in taking him 
alive in their nets and load him with chains. They advanced 
with resolution, but when they were come within a short distance 
of the huge animal, the ferocious glare of his eyes, his rough and 
scaly hide, the noise which he made in rousing himself, and his 
open mouth armed with long and curved teeth, inspired them 
with alarm. They ventured, however, to approach, step by step, 
till so near as to throw some heavy chains upon him ; but scarce- 
ly had they touched the monster, when he turned furiously 
round, seized the nearest hunter in his mouth, and killed another 
by a stroke of his tail. The rest now fled in terror ; but being 
unwilling to forego the rewards of the king, they invented another 



40 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



method of accomplishing their purpose. They made a net of 
strong ropes, proportioned in size to that of the serpent, so as to 
hold him if they could but entangle him in it. To accomplish 
this, they watched a time when he left his cave to seek for prey, 
and blocked up its mouth with large stones. Then at a lit- 
tle distance, they spread the net over a space of ground, and 
kept themselves as silent as as they could, till the serpent's 
return, when he found his abode beset by a host of armed 
men, horses, and dogs. At first, on discovering this, the mon- 
ster raised his head to a great height, so as to overlook men, 
horses and all, uttering frightful hissings. But being intimida- 
ted at the great number of his foes, and as the darts and (iron) 
arrows," shot from steel bows, " assailing him from every quar- 
ter, he rushed with violence to the entrance of his cave. But 
finding this blocked up, and at a loss how to escape from the 
attack of the hunters, the noise of their trumpets and dogs, he 
turned to flee, or to fight, when they drew the net around him, 
in which he became entangled, and soon wearied himself with 
tremendous efforts to break through, but was subdued, and 
conveyed to Alexandria, to the great astonishment of the popu- 
lace, where he was kept in a place fited up for his reception. If 
the passion of anger and rage, is an evidence of the subtilty of 
serpents, then have they the pre-eminence over all other crea- 
tures, and especially the boa, the anaconda, with the crested basi- 
liscus of India ; but we do not know that this circumstance is 
evidence. 

Now a serpent of either of these kinds, but especially the ana- 
conda, as it is the longest of all land serpents, rolling or whirling 
its folds in a pyramid along the earth, as Milton has supposed, 
towering on high, glittering in its glory of maculated splendor, 
would not be an unseemly minister of the arch fiend, whereby 
to introduce himself to Eve, the queen of the earth, and of the 
human race, on a business which was to determine the fates of 
millions, so far as the sufferings of this life was concerned, at least. 

To give the reader an idea of the brilliant thought of Milton, 
respecting the original form and manner of the moving of the 
serpent, as it existed on the plains of Paradise, we present a plate 
of the creature, beneath the thick boughs of a tree, around which 
are entwined the redundant foliage of the grape vine, laden with 
fruit as large as apples. [See the Plate.) 

But as it respects certainty about the foregoing, in identifying 
the true animal by which Eve was destroyed, the reader will 
have his own belief; yet the writer of these sheets inclines 
to the opinion that it was the Orang-outang, because that crea- 
ture is the most cunning, the most artful, and the most subtil 
of all the animals of the globe, and approaches nearer to man, both 
in intellect and form, than any other creature. The female 
suckles her young at the breast, holding it in her arms, the same 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 43 

as a woman would do, fondling it with equal delight and endear- 
ment. 

As a powerful evidence that the serpent was the animal which 
Satan made use of on the occasion of the fall, as thought by many, 
is the circumstance of the universal terror this creature inspires, 
when met with by man ; imagining that in this fact is fulfilled 
the word of God, which was addressed to the serpent, at the time 
he was judged, in the garden with Adam and Eve ; which was, 
" And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and be- 
tween thy seed and her seed, it (Christ) shall bruise thy head, 
(the devil,) and thou (devil) shaft bruise his (Christ's) heel," in 
death. Christ is the seed here meant, which was emphatically the 
seed of the woman, (Mary) and not of man ; which cannot be said 
of any other daughter of Adam's race, as it is from the man that 
the germinating principle of human existence proceeds. The 
enmity therefore, which is here alluded to, was to exist between 
Satan and Christ, and not between the human race and the 
race of snakes, or any other animal ; as it is said in scripture, that 
Christ came into the world to destroy the works of the devil, and 
to bruise Satan under the feet of the saints, according to the 
New Testament, and has nothing to do with the shuddering sen- 
sations felt when we meet with this reptile. But Universalists 
believe this enmity consisted in the opposition the heavenly man 
and the earthly man had to each other in the human breast, 
when first created. But this idea is exploded, when we recollect 
that God could never have been the author of two contending 
powers in the same human soul, as it came first from his hand, 
the one an enemy to all righteousness, and the other consonant 
to all holiness ; as this would seem to be a conflict, between the 
powers of the mind and the passions, set on foot by the creator, 
for no other purpose than man's ruin. 

" Thou shalt bruise his heel : — this is understood of Christ, 
the seed of the woman. His heel means, first his humanity, 
whereby he trod upon the earth, and which the devil by the in- 
strumentality of wicked men, bruised and killed. Second his 
people, his members, whom Satan in divers ways bruises, vexes, 
and afflicts, while they are on earth, but cannot reach either 
Christ their head in heaven, or themselves, when they shall be 
advanced thither. In this verse therefore, notice is given of a 
perpetual quarrel commenced between the kingdom of Christ, 
and the kingdom of the devil, among men ; war is proclaimed 
between the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent, the 
devil? Rev. xii. 17. Benson J s Commentary on Genesis^ 
3d Chap. 

But were we to conclude, that the word of God in the above 
respect is fulfilled, in the circumstance of the inclination we feel 
to kill this frightful reptile when met with, and the inclination of 
serpents to bite whatever comes in their way, we do not perceive* 



44 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

that by this, any great thing worthy of the divine foresight, or of 
use to man, is made out ; as all snakes will die some how or other, 
even if this enmity had never existed. It is true nevertheless, 
that a natural enmity exists between serpents and 1 men, and also, 
between the serpent tribes and all other animals ; but wholly on 
account of the poison fang of smaller serpents of various kinds, 
and of the bone breaking power of the larger, which have not 
ihe poison teeth ; and this is reason enough, without superadding 
the influence of Satan, to those two qualifications. 

Whoever may have contemplated a serpent of the larger kinds, 
or even the common rattlesnake, and especially its head, will 
bear witness, that there is assembled all that is necessary to con- 
stitute horror, to freeze the blood, to paralize courage, and to 
cower the fiercest eye, whether of man or beast ; as if the auda- 
cious spirits, the fallen angels, had taken up their abode in the 
bodies of serpents. The terrifying form of a serpent's head above 
that of all other animals, must have been the reason why the son 
of Sirach, the writer of the book of Ecclesiasticus, chap. xxv. 15, 
has said, " them is no head above the head of a serpent" Apo- 
crypha. 

There is no animal which will fight more obstinately than 
the serpent, with any creature which attacks it. There is noth- 
ing which can inspire equal terror with the anaconda and great 
li-boa ; a whole town or neighborhood, in the countries where 
they are found, is thrown into the utmost consternation, if it is 
but announced that an animal of this sort has been seen any- 
where near, none daring to stir abroad till the creature's depar- 
ture. In certain districts of both Africa and South America, the 
serpents have so multiplied, of all sorts, as that they have obtained 
exclusive possession, frightening away every other creature, even 
animals of the most ferocious description. Regulus, a Roman 
general, nearly three hundred years B. C, while leading his army 
along the banks of the river Bagrada, in Africa, met with a ser- 
pent, which disputed his passage across, destroying great num- 
bers of his men, which he however killed, with his battering 
rams and catapulta, machines formed for the purpose of heaving 
large stones with force and precision. Pliny, the most learned 
of the Roman historians who flourished in the first century, states 
that he had seen the skin of this serpent, and that it was one 
hundred and twenty feet in length. 

, Though we have indulged our thoughts at some length on 
the subject of serpents, yet we cannot well forbear to give an 
account which respects the power of serpents to charm or fasci- 
nate such creatures as venture to gaze steadfastly upon its 
eyes. But whether such a power, if it exists, is the result 
of subtilty and cunning, or is the mere force of instinct, in 
the animal, is the question, which, as yet is not decided, and ma 
ny doubt it altogether. Few human beings so far as we have 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 45 

heard, have tried by experiment, whether they have this power 
or not ; one, however, as related by a pioneer settler and hunter 
in the early times of Vermont, states the following respecting 
himself. 

<; In one of my hunting excursions, on a fine morning, accom- 
panied by my wife, (as we were but just married,) the sun was 
shining warm and sultry, while all above was clear and bright. 
I had left my companion at a certain place, beneath the shade of 
a young pine, for a short time, in pursuit of game, which drew 
up a steep, ledgy hill, and while struggling to ascend, I was 
startled by a quick grating rattle very near me ; when looking 
eagerly about, I discovered a short space before me, on a smooth 
rock which lay fair to the sun, a large rattlesnake, coiling him- 
self, to make the deadly spring. The serpent was within a few feet 
of me, and I paused for a moment, ere I should kill it, to survey 
it But while doing so, yet I know not why, a strange feeling of 
curiosity came over me, which unaccountably fixed my atten- 
tion. Suddenly the snake unwound his coil, as if relenting from 
its purpose of hostility, and raising his head he fixed his bright 
eyes directly upon my own. A chilling and incredible sensation, 
totally different from any thing I had ever before experienced, 
followed this movemement of the serpent. Yet I stood still and 
gazed steadily and earnestly, for at that moment there was a 
visible change in the reptile : his form seemed to grow larger 
and his colors brighter. His body now seemed to move with a 
slow and almost imperceptible motion toward me, while there 
-came a low hum of music from him, or at least it sounded in my 
car, a strange sweet melody, faint as from the throat of the hum- 
ming bird. Then the tints of his body deepened, and changed, 
and glowed with green, purple, scarlet, and gold, until I lost 
sight of the serpent entirely, seeing only wild and curiously wo- 
ven- circles of various colors, quivering around me like an atmos- 
phere of rainbows. I seemed in the centre of a great prison, — 
a world of mysterious colors : the tints varied, and darkened, 
and lighted up again, around me, and the low music went on 
without ceasing, until my brain reeled, and fear now for the first, 
came like a shadow over me. This sensation gained upon me 
rapidly, and I could feel the cold sweat gushing from my brow. 
I had no certainty of danger in my mind — no definite ideas of 
peril — all was vague and clouded like the unaccountable terrors 
of a dream ; and yet my limbs shook and I fancied I could feel 
the blood stiffening with cold as it passed along my veins. I 
would have given worlds to have been able to tear myself from 
the spot ; I even attempted to do so> or thought I did : but the 
body obeyed not the impulse of the mind — -not a muscle moved, 
I yet stood still, as if my feet had grown to the solid rock, with 
the infernal music of the tempter in my ear, and the baleful 
colorings of enchantment around me. Suddenly a new sound 



46 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

came oil my ear — it was a human voice ; but it seemed strange, 
and awful — again — again — but I stirred not — and then a white 
form stood beside me, and grasped my arm ; it was my wife. 
With her touch the horrible spell was broken — the strange col- 
ors passed away from my vision. The rattlesnake was coiling 
at my feet, with burning eyes, reckless of danger ; when with a 
quick stamp of one foot — having on shoes of hard leather — I 
crushed its head to powder — and thus I escaped." 

But whether the larger kinds, as the boa, anaconda, &c. have 
this power is unknown, yet it is supposed they have not, as there 
appears no necessity of its being thus endowed ; their agility 
and strength being equal to all their necessities. The steady 
unvarying glare of the rattlesnake,, is aided by its never winking, 
as nature has covered their eyes with a transparent shining sub- 
stance, which protects it from injury, and answers a better pur- 
pose — as they burrow in the earth — than eyelids, like other 
animals. 

Adaptation appears to characterize all the works of God, as 
well as first principles, starting points, and data. Man, there- 
fore, is the starting point of all animal creation, as he stands at 
their head in the perfection of limbs, and intellect, and power of 
improvement and expression by speech. From this data, we 
therefore judge, that as animals approach in their forms, to that 
of man, that also their intellect conforms to the same rule. 
If this be so, we at once perceive that the Orang-outang is the 
creature marked by Moses, as the instrument of the devil in 
the ruin of man ; because the shape of that creature is more 
like man than any other ; while that of a serpent is farther 
removed from that form than the whole creation besides ; being 
nothing more than a congeries of long muscles, like a rope made 
from the fibres of hemp, having a head at one end and a tail at 
the other, without legs arms or wings, and is next in grade on the 
descending scale to the very worms of the dust, and could never 
therefore, have been the animal of the text of Moses, as it is not 
the subtilest beast of all the field ; while the Orang-outang, in our 
opinion, most certainly is, and was therefore the identical animal. 

But as conclusive on this subject, the identity of the kind of 
animal in question, we are able to give the evidence of an accre- 
dited writer of great celebrity, who lived a thousand years before 
the time of Christ, that whatever animal it was ; it was not a 
snake, and that the snake was not considered, in his time, as a 
beast of as much subtilty as the other animals of creation. This 
writer was the famous Solomon, of the Scriptures, whose wisdom 
has been celebrated in all ages and countries, since his time. 
Respecting his opinion about the subtilty of snakes, see Book of 
Wisdom, chap. xi. 15, where, speaking of the worship of the 
Egyptians in the timf of Moses, he says, that from " the foolish 
devices of their y/ickedness, wherewith being deceived, they wor- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 47 

shipped serpents, (or the ophi,) void of reason." TTiis, in our 
opinion, is sufficient to show that Solomon did not consider the 
ophi, or snake, as the subtilest beast of all the field, or earth ; as 
he expressly says, it was void of reason, or subtilty, and therefore 
he did not understand Moses, in the third chapter of Genesis, 
where the account of Eve and the Nach-ash is given, to have any 
allusion to such an animal as a snake, but rather to some other 
creature, which was not naturally void of reason, as he esteemed 
serpents or snakes to be. 

That the Egyptians worshipped snakes in the time of Moses, 
is shown from this very statement by Solomon, as also from an- 
cient history. The Egyptians were exceedingly superstitious, 
and worshipped all kinds of animals ; but the serpent was had 
in particular veneration, as it was this reptile which even Jeho- 
vah came out against, when he caused the rod of Moses to be- 
come a serpent, and to devour the serpents of the magicians. 
In the time of Solomon they had not abandoned the wor- 
ship of this creature, as he seems to speak of it, as quoted above, 
in the present tense, at the time of his reign. 

But to all we have said on this subject, namely, of the exist- 
ence of some kind of animal which Satan made use of on the 
occasion of man's fall, Universalists turn a deaf ear, for they 
allege, that there was no animal in the case, and that the whole 
that has been written in the Bible on that subject is but descriptive 
of Eve herself, her appetites and passions. This is necessary for 
them to do, as any acknowledgment of the existence of some 
creature having been used as an instrument of deception in the 
fall of Eve, draws after it the existence of an evil spirit, as certain- 
ly as effect follows cause, and this would ruin their scheme, as a 
supernatural evil spirit, having a real being, is that which they 
everywhere deny. 

We think the account, as written by Moses, is of exceedingly 
great importance on this subject ; for if the existence of Satan, 
or of an evil being, who was engaged in the moral destruction of 
the wife of Adam, cannot be made out from that account, we do 
not hesitate to acknowledge, that such an existence becomes ex- 
tremely doubtful, notwithstanding so much is said in all the Bible 
of such a being ; for if this cannot be shown at the head of the 
stream, how is it to be done at any other point farther down. 

On this subject, we shall now bring forward some of the opin- 
ions of Balfour, as found in his book entitled his " Second En- 
quiry" and is written expressly to disprove the existence of a 
devil, as a being, who contends that all references to such a being, 
as are found in the Scriptures, are to be understood only of 
human beings, and their faculties, when engaged in immoral 
pursuits. That there is no such being he seems to make out, to 
his own satisfaction, from the circumstance that Moses has not 
plainly, or in so many words said there is. He supposes that if 



43 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

there was such a being, who was so dangerous to the repose of 
Adam and his wife, that God ought to have forewarned them 
with an account of him, so that they might have guarded against 
his enmity. " It is evident," he says, on page 24, « that not a 
word of caution was given them." But to this we reply God 
did caution them against the wiles of this being, when he 
said : " in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" 
And to prove this to have been a caution, we bring forward what 
St. Paul has said about death and him who has the power of 
death, that is the devil. Heb. ii. 14. Now if no being has the 
power of death but the devil, so far as it relates to our race, it 
follows that if they ate that fruit which was forbidden them, that 
the devil would be the being who had induced their death by 
tempting the woman to a "breach of God's holy law ; or here is 
a death which takes place aside, as to its cause from that of the 
devil, notwithstanding St. Paul's opinion to the contrary. Now 
inasmuch as God informed them of the possibility of death, he 
informed them of him who had the power of death, or else the 
revelation was an imperfect one, so far as it related to warning 
Adam against tasting that fruit. Now, inasmuch as God named 
the name of death, it is evidence that he cautioned them against 
this being, who had this power, and of necessity ascertains the 
existence of the devil, or St. Paul knew nothing of the subject 
he was speaking about. 

Mr. Balfour, on pages 24 and 25, of his book, seems to think that 
it was much worse, and much more ruinous to mankind to have 
fallen by the temptations of an evil spirit or apostate angel, than by • 
any other means, although the consequences should be exactly 
the same; yet appears perfectly willing to have man fall, if he 
did fall, by the means of his own heart ; but is very much op- 
posed to its having been promoted by such a being as the devil, 
yet seems inclined to think that it woud have been far more 
chaste, delicate and orthodox, to believe that God made Adam 
and his wife just strong enough not to standout a short time, 
and then to fall, by an inevitable and inherent propensity to sin, 
implanted by the everblessed Creator in their natures. In Ms, 
Balfour is more careful of the deviFs character, than even those 
who believe in his existence, inasmuch as man's fall, if he did fall, 
was occasioned by the Creator himself, as Universalists view the 
subject. The very fact, which proves there was a fallen spirit 
or angel, called Satan,, the Serpent and the Devil, who tempted 
Eve to her ruin, is taken by Balfour, as evidence that there is no 
such being. That conclusion is shown from his own statements, 
which are, that the creature, whatever it was, knew all about the 
prohibition ; for says Balfour, this serpent began the conversation 
with the woman, which he says a dumb beast could not have 
done ; to which we heartily respond, and say, that no animal 
could have known this, on which very account we see a necen- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 49 

sity for the existence and presence of just such a being as the 
devil is shown to be, wherever he is spoken of in all the Scriptures, 
or such an effect could not have been produced on a dumb animal. 

Page 26, of the Enquiry, he makes himself much sport, on 
account of Eve's conversing with so frightful a creature as a 
talking snake, and thinks it was an instrument far enough from 
being calculated to seduce any body, on which account, he be- 
lieves it could not have been so. But in this slur, there is but 
little force, when it is recollected, that a holy and innocent being 
as Eve was in her sphere, could not possibly fear, or be startled 
by any accident. The only reason why she noticed, or listened 
to the tempter, in the form of a beast, no doubt was, because it 
spoke to her of an increase of knowledge, which to acquire, to 
her appeared a virtue of the highest order. All creatures were 
harmless to Eve, whatever their forms were, and however hide- 
ous or repulsive. She may have been often amused by the 
gambols and the varieties, every where met with in her walks, 
but could fear none, while in her innocence. Fear has torment 
in its nature, and is known no where, except with the guilty. 

In one place of his book, namely, on the 26th page, he thinks 
we are indebted to Milton, rather than to Moses, for a belief in 
the existence of a devil ; but if this is so, we ask, to whom were 
the early writers and fathers indebted, who lived and wrote many 
hundred years before Milton was born, who have transmitted on 
the page of Ecclesiastical history, the same opinions and doc- 
trines now held by the orthodox sects, about the devil ? In an 
other place of his book, however, he is sure that we have derived 
all our peculiar opinions, such as a hell, a day of judgment, and 
the being of a devil, from the writings of Zoroaster, to which we 
shall give our attention in its proper place. He seems not even 
to dream that we have derived them from the Bible, although 
its phraseology and composition abounds with accounts of the 
kind. Nay, it is the very object of the whole Scriptures to reveal 
these truths, and to teach men how to be good, and to flee the 
wrath to come, in an other world, as we understand them. 

On page 27, of his work, Balfour says that Moses selected the 
serpent or snake as a mere figure of the deceitful nature of Eve's 
passions, appetites, and desires, which he calls lusts, because it 
wasa creature " celebrated for its subtilty among mankind." But 
this statement, is what neither Mr. Balfour, nor any other man 
can prove ; namely, that serpents were celebrated in the time of 
Moses for subtilty. What record is there of this thing ? none 
that we know of. The Bible, the oldest book in the world, has 
no hint or allusion to this effect ; while we have produced a very 
early writer of a part of the Scriptures, namely, Solomon, who 
says that the serpents which the Egyptians worshipped, were 
void of reason or subtilty, and therefore, in his time, could not 
have been thus celebrated. We have said above, that we know 

4 



50 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

of no allusion in the Bible, which can lead to a supposition that 
snakes are wise or subtil ; but lest the reader should be alarmed, 
we make haste to quote what Christ said at a certain time to his 
disciples, on the subject of serpents, and to explain it. He said, 
" be ye wise as serpents but harmless as doves." Does not this, 
says one, not only hint, but plainly make out, that serpents are 
indeed wise and cunning, and were so considered by Jesus 
Christ ? we think not ; and the following is our reason. A man, 
or a human being, is certainly far more wise and subtil than a 
snake. If so, then the Saviour could never have chosen this con - 
temptible reptile as a figure of emulation for his disciples. Did 
he, indeed, wish them to be as wise as common snakes ? This 
would be to suppose them at least, somewhat below serpents in 
ability, a very strange predicament for human beings, who had 
the use of their reason. The supposition is altogether ridicu- 
lous. What then did he mean ? He meant, no doubt, that they 
should be as wise as devils — or evil spirits, of whose wiles St. 
Paul said, on a certain occasion, that the saints of his day were 
not ignorant. Also — he meant, that he desired his disciples to 
be as wise as the Jews their enemies, who on two occasions are 
called a generation of vipers, or serpents. So that in our opin- 
ion these texts give no countenance to the idea of the wisdom of 
snakes. But more than this, Mr. Balfour makes Moses choose 
this creature, not because it is, or was in fact the subtilest beast 
among animals ; but because it was thus celebrated, as he as- 
sumes to believe. Such a course would be deception, even in 
Moses, for if the snake in fact, is not such a creature, then has 
Moses made his selection unwisely and deceitfully, as he should 
have been guided, not by a false celebrity, but by matter of fact, 
or the lusts of Eve were not fitly represented. But here we wish 
to remark, that in our opinion, this stroke of Mr. Balfour's inven- 
tion, should go for nothing, as it is not true in its main feature. 
And what is its main feature ? It is this : he says, Moses chose 
this animal as descriptive of Eve's nature, as it related to her 
appetites ; but where is the proof of this, that Moses chose it for 
that purpose ? we answer there is no proof — while, to the con- 
trary there is proof irrefragible, that he did not. But how is this, 
says one, did he not write the book of Genesis, where the whole 
account is found? Most certainly he did. How then is it, that 
he did not choose this creature for the purpose Mr. Balfour al- 
ledges 1 This is our proof and our reason : — Moses has but 
recorded the conversation which took place between God and 
Eve ; and says that Eve said the serpent or nachash beguiled 
her. Now if any body chose an animal for this purpose, it was 
Eve, herself, while Moses does nothing but rehearse the fact as a 
matter of history and truth. Are we to believe she chose this 
horrid animal, to show up to her God, by a hieroglyphic of this 
sort, the very nature which himself had but a few days previous 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 51 

created ? we think not. She did nothing more than to speak of 
the creature which she supposed had misled her, having no idea 
whatever, that the devil who had the power of death, had en- 
tered into the animal, and inspired it with the abilities of articu- 
lation and reason. Wherefore, so far as we are able to compre- 
hend our subject, Mr. Balfour has failed, totally failed, to make 
out that either Moses or Eve chose an animal as a representative 
of her appetites ; on which account it remains, that the belief of 
a real animal called by Eve the nachash, being inspired, by 
Satan, conversed with her, is a true belief. What follows, 
therefore, on this fact ? it follows that there was an evil spirit or 
being, who was the real tempter, and not the animal. This is 
made out from Balfour's own showing ; who, in his struggle to 
oppose the being of Satan, says on page 25 of his work, that a 
dumb beast could not have thus conversed. To this we agree, 
nckdumb beast could ever talk except by the aid of a superior and 
competent power. Now, as he has failed in his statement about 
Moses' choosing this animal for the purpose of a figure, he fails 
to disprove the existence of the devil in the case of Eve, as the 
animal could not of itself have said any thing of the matter. We 
wish to be particular on this subject, in this place, for if we fail to 
make out in a reasonable manner, the existence of an evil beingj 
who was engaged in Eve's ruin, we fail in a great measure of the 
main object of this work, as before remarked. 

Mr. Balfour thinks it foolish and ridiculous to believe that any 
animal whatever, was made use of by any being in the ruin of 
Eve, and contends in his work, page 26, that the doctrine inten- 
ded by the reference of Moses to an animal, which conversed 
with woman, is simply to inform us that Eve's lusts or desires, 
after food when she was hungry, was the true serpent, or devil, 
which destroyed her, if she was destroyed. But to refute this 
in another form, we ask : could lusts or desires have known 
more about the forbidden fruit, and the consequences which 
would follow on her tasting it, than Eve did herself? Did her 
appetites know more than her mind ? This must have been the 
case, however preposterous the opinion may appear, if nothing 
but her appetites are intended by Moses, or by Eve ; for we see 
her lusts, as Balfour calls her desires, commencing the conver- 
sation with Eve, by saying, " God doth know that in the day ye 
eat thereof, that your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as the 
gods [the angels] knowing good and evil." How is it that Eve's 
superior powers, her mind, her reason, her perception, knew 
nothing of this, while her inferior powers, her mere animal inno- 
cent appetites for food when hungry, knew all about it; we 
might as well argue that her body, composed of muscles and 
limbs, were superior in their nature to her mind, her soul, her 
immortal and her undying intellect. But if indeed, the opinion 
is correct, as Balfour holds, is it not strange that Moses, who 



62 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

must have understood the whole matter, speaks of her lusts, in 
the masculine gender he, as Eve was a woman : and then 
again to allude to her lusts, which is plural, in the use of the 
pronoun he, which is singular, as if she had but one lust, and 
that was a he one. 

But as to the real fact of the case, this writer, Mr. Balfour, says, 
the whole matter is to be solved, by supposing Eve to have held 
a dialogue between herself and her lusts, on the subject of the 
forbidden fruit, her appetite exciting her to transgress, while her 
reason opposed it. But as before argued, this was impossible, 
for neither her reason, or her appetites could foreknoiu that her 
eyes should be opened, to know, either more or less. Wherefore, 
it is as evident as evidence can make it, that there must have 
been in the case a supernatural evil being, who, thus understood 
the subject, and thus foretold the effect, if she eat of that fruit 

Universalist writers, however, do not all agree on this subject, 
for while Mr. Balfour admits the fact of the law which forbade 
Adam and Eve tasting the fruit of a real tree, situated in the 
literal garden of Eden, Mr. Ballou reduces the whole account 
to a mere, but beautiful allegory : setting forth the law of God, and 
man's natural opposition to it: each writier striking out for 
himself, a code of opinions, diverse from his fellows of the same 
communion, so that we know not where to find them as a people, 
on scarce any subject, except that there is no devil, no hell, and 
no day of judgment; in this they are all pretty well agreed : in- 
sisting that the orthodox sects of the christian world have derived 
these opinions from the old heathen Persians, by the way of the 
writings of Zoroaster ; — but more of this in another place. 

On the 30th page of his Enquiry, Mr. Balfour endeavors to 
show that because the New Testament writers speak of the lusts 
of the human heart, as being the root and origin of sin : that of 
necessity we are to refer this fact to Eve's case, — as if she was in 
the same fallen and depraved condition before her fall, that she 
was after. This is a strange way of reasoning, and will not an- 
swer, unless we are to believe that God placed lusts as the origin 
of sin, in the soul of Eve, on purpose for her ruin. Now Uni- 
versalists — with BallOu and Balfour at their head — make a great 
matter of it, because the orthodox sects believe in the existence 
of a devil, who tempted Eve, and ask, and wonder why God did 
not prevent his doing so, as if he certainly ought so to have done, 
and yet they say God himself did it, by creating in the soul of 
Eve— what they improperly call her lusts, which became the 
occasion of her ruin. Is not this a strange thing to wonder at? 
Is it not as well that Satan should tempt man to his ruin, as that 
God should do it by his own direct will ? 

But we deny, and no man can make it appear, that the simple 
fact of Eve's having the natural appetites to eat and to drink when 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 53 

hungry and thirsty, were lusts in any sense ; more than the 
same desires or appetites are lust in a wild fawn of the woods. 
Lust is a moral disqualification of the spirit or mind of man, 
consisting in a will to disobey the commands of God, or to outrage 
moral principle in some way or other, after corruption has enter- 
ed, and not before. Eve had no such lust, as she came pure from 
the hand of God ; yet she had appetite for food or she could not 
have lived, however pure and innocent she was, but cannot be 
termed lust in any sense of the word. But no doubt the grand 
secret of this doctrine of Universalists, respecting Eve's being 
created with lustful appetites and desires, is to make out that man 
is not fallen in Adam, as held by the orthodox sects, and that 
man is not sinful by nature, but only by accident, or fortuitously 
and relatively. Men, therefore, are now by nature, exactly 
what they were in their original heads — Adam and Eve — until 
they do something which is considered merely relatively wrong. 
This is the reason why thorough bred Universalists deny the 
use of the vicarious atonement made for the world, by the volun- 
tary death of Jesus Christ; as from that view of theirs, it is not 
needed ; this is deism. Mr. Balfour says, on page 30, of his Sec- 
ond Enquiry, that " lust, the source of sin, is always represented 
in Scripture as being deceitful and beguiling." This we admit, 
but deny that Eve came from the hand of God in such a condi- 
tion, having within her the seeds of moral death ; for if she did, 
then the occurrence of sin is but the fruit of the planting of God 
himself, and the horrible harvest of moral depravity is of his own 
providing. On this view of the subject, there is no sin in the 
world, as God can do no evil. 

But if Eve was created with lusts, and these lusts were to be 
in their inevitable operation her ruin, to be demonstrated as soon 
as the law of God should be given her, against which they were 
to act in war and conflict; might she not have exclaimed, even 
before she had sinned:— O wretched WOMAN that I am ! Who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ! What a picture is 
this of man's original condition ! We do not wonder that Univer- 
salism is the timber out of which the whole superstructure of mod- 
ern infidelity to the Scriptures is made ; as with such views, 
and such conclusions, of what they teach respecting the origin 
of good and evil, it is no marvel that they should offend the rea- 
/ der. The Scriptures state that Christ was manifested to destroy 
/ the works of the devil. Well, what is this devil which he came 
. to destroy? Why; according to Universalists, it is the lusts of 
Eve and all her race. Well, who made the lusts of Eve and her 
race ? Why, God — say they — as he is the only Creator. What 
then follows on this view ? Why, that Christ came as the Son 
\ of God to destroy that which his father had made, and called 
\ very good, in the beginning. Is not this a kingdom divided 

\ 



54 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



against itself, and therefore cannot stand? No wonder deism 
flourishes under the auspices of such theology. ^S 

Mr. Balfour complains in his Enquiry, and says that Moses 
ought to have stated plainly that the serpent which tempted Eve 
was a fallen angel, if the thing is true. But on the part of the 
orthodox, have we not as good a right to complain that Moses 
has not said that there is not, or at least we have a right to com- 
plain that the cause of her ruin is so mysteriously hidden under 
the cover of a deep and difficult allegory, or under the term ser- 
pent, which creature after all is but a hieroglyphic, intended to 
represent certain passions and appetites ? If the truth is, that it 
was her lusts or appetites which destroyed her, how is it that 
Moses does not say so ; as he easily might have done ; — as plain 
fact, stated in the plainest manner, best becomes the dignity of 
holy inspiration. That he did state plainly, that there is such a 
being as a wicked fallen angel, now called Satan, is shown when 
he says, that Eve said, the serpent beguiled her ; as we know, as 
before argued, that no beast can or ever did use articulate speech, 
except by mere imitation j it follows, therefore that an evil being 
destroyed her by temptation. To us it appears that the orthodox 
sects, in their view of this subject, are much more modest and 
retiring than are Universalists ; as the former charge the blame 
on Satan as a mere tempter, and on Adam and Eve as dupes ; 
while the latter at once and unblushingly ascribe the whole to 
God ; when they say he created them with lusts, the very seeds 
of their ruin as shown in their fall. 

Mr. Balfour in the 3d section of his Second Enquiry, endeav- 
ors to make it appear that the word Satan, in the original He- 
brew and Greek, meant in no case where it is used, a fallen 
angel, a supernatural wicked spirit or being. But contends 
that the word was restricted solely to such beings and subjects 
as are in opposition to each other ; and from the fact of such op- 
poiites, the term Satan is made out signifying merely an adver- 
sary. Though this may be true in relation to any ordinary 
subject it may be applied to, yet we do not perceive how this can 
exclude its application to such a being as Satan is supposed to 
be. He is shown in Scripture to be opposed to God's holy gov- 
ernment of the universe, and is therefore a Satan, meaning an 
enemy. But when we consider that God is opposed to sin, we 
dare not say he is therefore a Satan, as such a course would be 
to confound and abuse language, distracting the reader with 
ideas of good and bad Satans. Because this term may be applied 
to ordinary cases — such as enmity between men or nations — is it 
therefore to be excluded from a higher and more extended mean- 
ing ? We should suppose not. The idea of good is derived 
from God, because he is good ; and from that, the word good has 
its being. But on this account, are we to exclude ifcj higher 
signification, and application to God ? By no means. How then, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 55 

is the word Satan to be restricted to the common affairs of man, 
any more than the word good ? If the word Satan is to be re- 
stricted, and made to signify the opposition one man may have to 
another ; how is it that St. Peter has named but onel — see his 1st 
Epistle, v. 8, — where he warns all Christians to be sober, to be 
vigilant, because their adversary ; Satan, or the devil, as a roaring 
lion went about, seeking whom he might destroy. We repeat 
it, how is it that he has named but one, seeing thousands of the 
Jews were opposed to the infant church ? Surely thousands and 
tens of thousands could not have meant but one; surely, if it 
did, St. Peter should have warned them against many Satans, 
instead of one — and but one. 

Balfour contends that it was God who afflicted Job, and not 
Satan, or the Christian devil as he calls him — nor the Persian 
Ahriman and evil being. Because Job says, chap. xxi. the Lord 
gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the 
Lord. This was said by Job because he supposed it was so — 
we have no evidence that Job then knew that Satan had 
appeared among the angels, the sons of God, and accused Job of 
serving God from interested purposes, namely, because he al- 
lowed him to become rich. But the fact of Satan's bein^ allowed 
to afflict him, is what is meant by Job, when he said the Lord 
did it, he did it by this agent. Moses in relating this story, 
makes even God to say that it was Satan who moved him against 
Job ivithout a cause. This is extremely singular, for the Per- 
sian Ahriman or the Christian Satan, being both of them a per- 
fect nonentity, according to Balfour, puts the whole affair upon 
God, and makes Moses say that God moved God against Job 
without a cause — which is considerably worse than nonsense. 
At the end of Job's* trial, there is no doubt but he was given to 
understand this whole matter, and the particular reason why the 
Lord had suffered Satan to thus torment him without any seem- 
ing reason — and that it was the devil, ever eager for work of the 
kind, who had moved him thereto, which he had consented to — 
for the very purpose of destroying a doctrine which it seems men 
had imbibed, namely, that in this life the good and the bad have 
their rewards — a doctrine precisely the same with that now held 
by modern Universalists. But God, in the affair of Job, shows 
it to be a false doctrine. And seeing Job was a good and right- 
eous man, we do not exactly understand how it is that Univer- 
salists justify the Divine Being in afflicting Job unjustly ; as they 
teach that all men suffer only as they sin, and that instantly. 
Job being righteous, how was it just in God thus to have tor- 
mented him? But on the orthodox plan, we at. once understand 
the reason, which was two fold ; namely, to destroy the Univer- 
salist notion of the age, which was that the bad were punished 
in this life, while the good were rewarded with riches, favors, 
&c. — and also to show that many are the afflictions of the right- 



56 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

eous ; and that the Lord chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom 
he receiveth ; a point of the divine administration, exactly oppo- 
site to the Universalist opinion. 

Balfour seems to think the Satan which is so often spoken of 
in the book of Job, And is there shown as being the cause of Job's 
sorrows, was the freebooters of the country, the Chaldeans, Sa- 
beans, &c. This being true — how could Moses by any stretch 
of language whatever, either allegorical or parabolical, say that 
the freebooters of the country, came and appeared before God on 
a certain day, when the sons of God came together ? and more 
than this, how could he say that it was the Chaldeans and 
Sabeans who smote Job with sore biles ? He could not ; it is 
impossible. That this is Balfour's opinion, see his Second En- 
quiry, page 57. It were equally easy to show from the book of 
Job that Moses has there said nothing about the being of God, as 
that he has said nothing about the being of Satan ; and as well 
might it be urged by Universalists that the book of Job- was writ- 
ten for the express purpose of proving that there is no God, as 
that it was written to prove there is no Satan who exists as a 
real being. If the book of Job was intended as a mere irony by 
Moses, and on that account the Ahriman or Satan of those ages, 
was allowed to personify the principle of evil, surely it became 
the honor the dignity 'as well as the truth of inspiration, to have 
said as much, and most certainly — if we might not exactly look 
for this in the book itself, we might expect it in the commenta- 
ries of the Jews, and most of all in the New Testament, from the 
lips of Christ or some of disciples, who wrote his life. But it 
does not appear in any of these. Surely, an irony or a sarcasm, 
when carried so far, looks very much as if it were really meant 
to bs truth of the soberest kind, and such we believe it is. 

Balfour complains that none of the early writers of the Bible 
have said any thing about the devil being a fallen angel ; but to 
this we need only remark, that it was taken for granted all along 
from what Moses had said about the being who deceived Eve, 
in the matter of the command respecting the forbidden fruit, ne- 
ver even dreaming that it was not, or that it was, as Universal- 
ists now-a-days contend, namely, that it was merely the innocent 
appetite of the first woman. 

This writer also makes himself much sport about what he 
calls the Christian devil, and that the orthodox hold him, or ra- 
ther represent him as the great rival of the Eternal God. But 
this we deny, as there can be no rival to the Supreme Being. 
Satan is as far from bearing this character as any other enemy 
of all holiness ; as the utmost he can do is to tempt such as are 
not as bad as himself, and such as are on probation. But if or- 
thodox Christians are accused of setting up Satan as the rival 
of God, whom we believe to be a fallen angel, what are we to 
think/of Universalists, and what ought they to think of them- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 57 

selves, when they say the devil of the Scriptures, which they 
believe is human nature, the work of God's own hand, is 
set up by them as this rival ? for they have never attempted to 
abate one jot or tittle of the virulence of this devil, but allowed 
it to take the exact place of the orthodox devil, in their theology. 

Now, who most dishonors God, the orthodox believer, who 
says, a fallen free-agent, or angel, is this opponent to the ways of 
God, or the Universalist, who says human nature, which Gcd 
himself has made, is this opponent ? Has God made an enemy 
to himself? The idea is unfounded and utterly preposterous and 
impossible. In support of the opinion that it was a fallen angel 
called Satan, who by the permission of Gcd, for a wise reason 
before noticed, we bring a strange concession from Mr. Balfour 
himself, on this subject, which the reader may find in his book, 
called his Second Enquiry, pages 58, 59. He says, the ancient 
heathen Persians, in the time of Job, held that there were two 
gods ; the one the author of all good, and the other of all evil. 
This latter god, however, he says, the Old and New Testament 
esteemed (seep. 56 of the Second Enquiry) as the principle of 
evil df ified, and not as a being. But whereabouts this is so con- 
sidered in the Bible we are not able to ascertain. This being 
the case, namely, that the heathen in the time of Job are consid- 
ered, as Balfour says, even by the Bible itself, to have worshipped 
or rather deified the mere principle of evil, says, " it is strange, 
and has always appeared strange, that in this account Satan, (or 
this evil,) should be represented as conversing freely and fami- 
liarly with God." This we consider a grand concession ; as 
indeed it is passing strange that divine inspiration should thus 
state the matter, if it was not so in fact. Would the Holy Ghost, 
who moved men of old to write the Scriptures, have so far re- 
spected the opinion of the heathen Persians of the lime of Job, 
as to have given it the name of Satan, the identity of a being, 
and of such a being as could reason, accuse, abuse, traduce, 
pass up and down in the earth, doing any and all things, like a 
real being, and yet a mere fiction, or abstract principle, which 
cannot reason, or do any thing else, in and of itself ; for if there 
be no being which is evil, there can exist no abstract evil. Sa- 
tan is a being, therefore, and so considered by the sense of the 
Scripture ; and no wonder Mr. Balfour has said, " it has always 
appeared strange to him, that in this account, Satan should be 
represented as conversing freely and familiarly with Gcd," a 
thing, we add, an abstract principle could not do. 

Balfour, in trying to show that Christianity, as held by the 
orthodox sects, respecting the being of the devil, was derived 
from Zoroaster, the great reformer of the w,ore ancient Magian 
religion of the ancestors of the Medes and Persians, and that m 
doing this he incorporated into it one new idea, which was that 
there was one supreme and eternal God, who was above all, and 



58 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

w;ls thfi author of all good. Previous to his time, they had held 
that there were two gods, one good and the Other had, whose 
powers were equal ; hut Zoroaster exploded this doctrine, and 
gave to the Supreme God exclusive rule, the same as the Scrip- 
tures do, while the evil god or HTlgel was far less, and was finally 
to be overcome and destroyed in everlasting darkness. ] le also 

taught, says Balfour, as he is informed hy P. Michaclis, the 
doctrine of a final resurrection. No doubt both these opinions he 
had learned of the Jewish Scriptures, as he thinks he was a .lew 
hy birth and education, and was deeply learned, and thinks it 
very likely that he was, when young, a servant to one of the 
prophets, of whom the true sense of the Scriptures might have 
been Learned by him. 

All this we do not doubt, but now comes the wonder. This 
same Zoroaster taught also the doctrine of a final day of judg- 
ment, and the being of a devil, who was inferior to God, just the 
same as Christianity teaches now-a-days, as promulged by the 
orthodox churches ; mid yet he never could have learned it from 
the Bible, says Balfour, when both opinions had been taught 
many hundred years before Zoroaster was born, both by Job 
and by Moses. Is not this a wonder? What is the reason that 
these two latter doctrines could not have been learned of him 
from the same writings that the Other two were, when they are 
equally plainly taught, especially in the book of Job. How is it 
that Zoroaster could learn the doctrine of the resurrection from a 
mere trait in the book of Job, where lie says, he knew that his 
Redeemer lived, and that in the latter day he should stand upon 
the earth : and that although worms should devour his skin, yet 
in his flesh he should sec God ; and not also learn a belief in the 
being of the devil, when it is over and over again taught by his 
being named, identified and conversed with by the Almighty? 

This is the most illogical conclusion we have ever met with in 
the writings of any man, for Halfourdocs not say that Zoroaster 
learned the opinion of the inferiority of the Persian evil god 
from them, but invented it himself, as well as that of a day of 
judgment ; and on this account he is chiefly to be considered as 
a much greater impostor than Mahomet was. But because he 
taught a final resurrection from the dead, he is, we suppose, in 
this, no impostor at all, because l T niversalists believe this: but 
because he taught as he had learned from Moses, Job and David, 
the belief in a hell, a devil, and a day of judgment, he was there- 
fore a very great impostor the same which the Saviour and all 
the New-Testament writers taught, and yet these were not im- 
postors: how wonderful ! 

Here follows another Strange conclusion, and equally logical 
with the Other : which is, (pages 70, 71,) that Zoroaster, impostor 
as he was, did not choose to make God the author of evil and 
that his conscience was more scrupulous than this — in which he 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 59 

excelled some Christians ; and yet Universalists teach us a doc- 
trine, everywhere to be viewed, that if the evil exists at all, it is 
by the appointment of the Creator, for the wisest and best of pur- 
poses ; for, says Ballou, God has a use for every volition of man, 
and that he is so situated as that he acts wholly from necessity. 
Whose conscience in this thing is the best, the universalist or the 
orthodox ? We leave Universalists themselves to judge ; for we 
make evil to arise from the abuse of free-agency, while Univer- 
salists make God its direct author. They are worse, therefore, 
from their own showing, than Zoroaster was. 

We conclude this chapter, therefore, being satisfied that it is 
impossible for any man, after duly considering this subject, to 
deny that Moses has in a manner satisfactory to the Jews, their 
prophets, to Jesus Christ and his disciples, and the church in all 
ages — stated as plainly as pleased the holy ghost — that Satan, an 
evil apostate or fallen angel, beguiled the first woman with argu- 
ments and false reasoning, such as no beast or the appetites of 
Adam and Eve, could ever have made use of, as neither of them 
were capable, in the least degree, of moral perception, or power 
of reasoning ; leaving the mind convinced that there must have 
been just such a being as the devil is supposed to be, who misled 
her, or she was not misled at all. Or if, as Mr. Ballou supposes, 
the whole account of Eve's fall is but an allegory, intended to 
teach the final predominance of her passions over her reason — 
yet, this will not meet even one difficulty, arising out of such a posi- 
tion. For if Moses invented an allegory for the above pupose — 
namely, to illustrate the power of Eve's passions over her reason 
and innocence, yet it could not have been right, or according to 
truth, for her to make his allegory tell lies, as he has, if the ac- 
count is but allegory. But how is this, says one ; how does it 
tell lies, even allowing the account to be an allegory ? We will 
show you— does not Moses say, that the serpent (which Mr. 
Balfour says was her lusts or appetites for food,) told her that her 
eyes should be opened, and that she should become as the gcds, 
in the day she should eat of that fruit. Now this was false in 
the allegory, as it was impossible for the serpent (if that serpent 
was nothing more than her appetites,) for it to foretell any thing 
about it, as there is no perception in the mere cravings of hun- 
ger, or any other animal desire of her nature, or in any body else, 
since the world began. Eve's whole powers of body, mind and 
spirit, put together, could never have — unaided by supernatural 
assistance — foreseen, foretold, or foreknown, one jot or tittle of 
the effects of her eating that fruit; how much less, therefore, her 
appetites, or the serpent of Universalists. To suppose it was an 
allegory, is much worse than Balfour's opinion, which is that it 
was a real conflict, or dialogue, in her mind, relative to eating of 
that tree ; it is worse, because the sense is more hidden and ab- 



60 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

struse, and less calculated to inform the reader what the real facts 
were, and how the law of God was infringed. 

There is another view of the matter, which goes far to show 
that there was an evil spirit, or fallen angel engaged in Eve's 
ruin ; and this is, that Eve could not have been hungry at tho 
time, as she had universal and unlimited access to all the fruits 
of Eden. It is true that the text states, that when she saw the 
tree was good for food that she did eat. But this was no reason 
why she tasted it ;' as her only and highest reason was, she had 
been told that it would make her laise, and as wise as the gcds, 
or holy angels of heaven, who, no doubt, she often saw and con- 
versed with. Now if there is no good reason to suppose she was 
hungry at the time, then there is left no good reasoning why 
she should taste it, except being incited so to do, by an evil spirit, 
of whom it is said expressly, under the name of serpent, that he be- 
guiled her in that matter ; and thus understood all the writers of 
the New Testament, who have spoken of the fall of Eve. The 
whole stress of the matter is laid on her estimation of the power 
the fruit had of making her toise. while the circumstance of its 
being good for food, was but secondary, or of small account ; 
unless we suppose her a hungry voracious animal, seeking every- 
where, as her chief good, that which could sustain her body only. 



Origin of Satan, and Cause of Sin, with many Curious 
Subjects connected therewith. 

Having thus far treated on the subject of the identity of the 
creature, called in the English translation of Genesis, the serpent, 
and of the being who used it as an instrument of deception, as pre- 
liminary to our main object ; we now hasten to ascertain the 
origin of Satan, and cause of sin, or moral evil, if there be 
such a being, and if there be real moral evil at all — which many 
Universalists deny. But were we now to adopt the opinion of 
Universal ists, with several other sects of the same genus, we 
should save ourselves the labor of writing the present work ; as 
we should at once discover the being of Satan, such as they be- 
lieve him to be, to have been produced by the will and power 
of God ; inasmuch as these people believe that there is no such 
being in existence, but a principle only, which they call the 
evil principle, or devil : and consists of the bad passions of the 
human soul, and appetites of the body: and that they were 
placed there by the Creator, at the moment of man's creation, for 
good and wise purposes. It is impossible to manage this ques- 
tion in any but one of two ways; either there must be a real 
personal spiritual Satan, or being distinct in existence/rom man, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 61 

or man is as he should be, in the sight of God — pure, innocent, 
and holy — and not fallen and corrupted, as generally supposed 
and believed. Because, to us it appears monstrous and absurd, 
to suppose man was created with latent and inherent tendencies, 
or principles, which were to produce, and have produced, the 
immense mass of natural and moral evil, now and always extant, 
since the fall, and would seem an impeachment of the goodness, 
wisdom, and power of God. For God cannot be good, if he is 
the author of moral, and consequently of natural evil. He can- 
not be icise in instituting a scene of things, so horrible, and 
contrary to all moral happiness. He cannot be powerful, nor 
good, or he would have prevented, if he consistently could, so 
dreadful a state of things as now, and ever has existed in the 
world. 

We need not draw out an argument here, to prove that the 
earth mourns, through all her tribes over its entire surface, among 
the ranks of man, that temporal and moral death have the whole 
race in their grasp. We need not personate the monster — war, 
whose jaws are reeking with the blood of millions : — we need 
not mention famine, — diseases of mind and body, — with all the 
catalogue of sorrows, more in number than human calculation 
can make out, which are now the inheritage of man : — we need 
not bring to view a picture of all the horrid passions of the souls 
of both cultivated and uncultivated men, as exhibited in pride, 
in lust, in falsehood, in anger, in selfishness, in prejudice, in 
bigotry, in the love of dominion, in treachery, impiety, and reck- 
lessness of spirit, to prove that moral evil exists ; as no man 
denies it, except such as do not receive the Bible as the man of 
their council, and guide of life. Yet there are those who profess 
even Christianity, and at the same time, unwitingly, and others 
designedly deny the fall of man into a sinful state, by saying that 
all this evil is but seeming evil, and is necessary for human hap- 
piness, upon the whole, by way of contrast ; and such are Uni- 
versaiists, with all of that school. To maintain this belief res- 
pecting natural evil, were it not, say they, for labor and weari- 
ness, we could know no rest: — were it not for hunger and 
thirst, we should know no pleasure in the use of food and 
pleasant drinks: — were it not for weariness, we should know 
no sweet repose : — were it not for silence and want of soci- 
ety, the power of speech, conversation, could have no charms : — 
were it not for a contrariety of thoughts, concord and harmony 
could not be distinguished as a blessing : — were it not for a vari- 
ety of fancy, the joy of choice could have no being. All of 
which is true, and not even inconsistent with a Paradisical state 
of innocence and purity: if not carried to extremes, as could not 
have been the case, if man had not fallen ; as his prudence 
and equanimity of temperament, would have in such a case 
prevented this forever. But when the idea respecting contrast- 



62 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

ing temporal good and evil is made to apply to our present con- 
dition, now that we are fallen ; it is as much as to say, that natu- 
ral evil is a natural good, and supposes that were it not for pains, 
distresses, and sickness, we could know nothing of the joys of 
health ; were it not for famine, we could know nothing of the 
happines of plenty ; were it not for tear and murder with all 
their horrors, we could know nothing of a state of peace and 
safety ; were it not for nakedness we could know nothing of the 
pleasure of comfortable habiliments ; such a notion would be but 
the evidence of theological and fanatical insanity, because all 
these blessings are easily appreciated, intuitively, without expe- 
riencing their opposites, as such is the constituted and natural 
ability of our race, when left to the free use, action, and power of 
reasoning. But when this contrast doctrine is carried forward, 
and made to apply its influence in a moral light, it is still more 
ridiculous : for if we say, (which is proper to say, if the doctrine 
of contrasts is true, in order to find out what happiness is,) that 
we can know nothing of the happiness of truth and veracity till 
we have lied a few times — nothing of the comforts of sympathy 
and kindness, till we have been cruelly treated and oppressed — 
nothing of the joys of chastity of mind and person, till we have 
outraged all decency — nothing of the happiness of civilized soci- 
ety, based on christian principles, till we have passed through a 
state of anti-christian anarchy and confusion — nothing of the 
bliss of piety toward God, till we have been all that is vile, abom- 
inable and revolting, in person and action ; as if moral and phy- 
sical happiness, could not be appreciated, nor enjoyed, only by 
the experience of passing through the horrid ordeal of opposites. 

Did the Creator thus constitute our condition, and make evil 
necessary to our happiness ? then evil is not evil, but a good, 
equal with good itself. And if this was the way in which it was 
appointed for man to ascertain temporal good, we have a right to 
the other supposition, as expressed above, in relation to the as- 
certainment of moral good ; which would also make sin or moral 
evil necessary to our moral happiness ; and therefore, in the eco- 
nomy of God, militates as much for our happiness, as moral good 
can possibly be supposed to do. But this was not the way in 
which man was constituted ; for God made them upright, mo- 
rally upright, and indeed we scarcely need the Scriptures to tell 
us this, as it was impossible for him to have made them, or any 
other beings, otherwise than good and morally upright, of the in- 
tellectual cast of existences. 

It does not appear from the Scriptures, nor from any reasoning 
we are acquainted with, that man moved himself to sin and 
ruin; and much less does it appear, if it were possible, that God 
so modified the powers of their minds, as that a preponderency 
of the passions and powers of the mind existed toward moral evil, 
(as Ballou supposes) and finally tumbled him into the gulph 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 63 

where the atonement found him, as such a feat would have been 
the child and offspring of divine purity, an idea almost too mon- 
strous for existence. Wherefore, we conclude, that if there was 
no foreign tempter, no devil, no Satan, or real being called the 
serpent in all parts of the Scripture, where the fall of man is al- 
luded to, whose cunning and subtilty bore eminently upon that 
catastrophe, and introduction of moral evil into the world ; then 
man is not fallen, is not corrupted, has not departed from his 
original condition, and is now as good, and as holy in nature, 
and as upright, and has still as much the image and impress of 
God on his mind and soul, as it respects moral rectitude, as he 
had the moment God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
and gave him an eternal spirit, or living soul : all is now right, 
however bad it may seem to be, as man could not will to move 
himself to evil, being pure in his very nature, like his glorious 
Creator. On this ground, the promise of a Redeemer is but a 
fiction, as it could not have been of God, as there was nothing 
to redeem ; no apostacy had taken place, and therefore no expia- 
tory sacrifice, nor any other kind of atonement was required, on 
man's account ; being as he should be, or as he was created by 
the Most High at first. 

These sects, therefore, who disbelieve the existence of such a 
being as Satan, and that he was the moving cause of man's fall 
into sin, if there is any sin, are, so far as we are able to discern, 
uncalled for in the Christian world, as there is, on that position, 
no sin to be reproved, none to be repented of, or to suffer for, or 
to be pardoned ; a Redeemer is not needed, deism is true : on 
which account, we cannot but look upon those sects, and espe- 
cially the Universalists, as insincere and mercenary in their 
Christian professions, and their exertions to disciple and raise 
up churches through the world, for the promotion of their dog- 
mas, as mere priestcraft, duping the public with stories about sin, 
and that men have need of God's mercy — which they do not, 
nor cannot, as Universalists themselves believe, for the reasons 
above written. 

But whether there is a devil or not, we shall in the course of 
this work further determine, if the Scriptures are allowed to be a 
guide in such an inquiry, while for the present, and for reasons 
already given, we shall hold there is, and proceed to inquire from 
whence he came, or the cause of his existence — as all things 
must have a cause, God alone excepted, who is uncaused, and 
cannot therefore be spoken of- as among the number of entities, 
called things, as he is a being above and distinct from all things, 
or creatures, whatever, whether material or immaterial. 

In our attempt, as above proposed, to account for the being of 
Satan and cause of sin, it becomes necessary to put on the swift 
wings of imagination, and travel back through countkss ages, up 
to a time when the Divine Being put forth his first creative act. 



64 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



And although we believe the Almighty is from everlasting, and 
that he exists of necessity, yet we are compelled to believe 
that a first act of creative power, did take place, at some period 
in past eternity ; 50 to speak. To deny a first act of creative 
power, which produced that which did not before exist, is to 
make all the items of creation as eternal as God is himself; and 
if so, were consequently never created at all. Now if any por- 
tions of matter or spiritual being exist, without having been crea- 
ted, God excepted, then all may so exist ; and if so,, then a 
creator is not called for, and does not therefore exist, on that 
hypothesis ; as two eternal beings, matter and spirit, cannot have 
existed from everlasting. Goa\ of necessity, if he exists at all, 
existed before all things, and by him. all things were made, 
whether spirit or matter. On this subject, however, some have 
said, that as the Divine Being is an Eternal Being, that he is 
therefore, an eternal worker ; by which argument, it is shown, 
that God's works are as eternal as himself, which is impossible. 
But it does not follow, that because he always had the power to 
work, that he has always done so ; as the exercise of that power 
is always optional with him, or he could not be a free spirit or 
being, as he declares himself to be, but would be unceasingly 
subject to his attribute of power, doing perpetually all he can by 
way of creation, and all he can by way of destruction. 

On the subject whether matter is eternal or not, see the rea- 
soning of Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on Heb. xi. 6, 
which is termed a mode of reasoning a-priori, or proofs that it 
is impossible for God not to have existed as he is ; a mode of 
reasoning which does not attempt to prove his being, from any 
of his works, or from that which appears in nature, but alto- 
gether from reasonings a-priori as follows : " First. — If there be 
no one being in the universe, but such as might possibly not 
have been, it follows, that there might possibly have been no 
existence at all : and if that could be so, it would be also possi- 
ble that the present existence might have arisen from, or out of, 
total non-existence, which is absurd and impossible. Therefore, 
it is not possible, that there might have been no existence at all : 
consequently an impossibility of not existing, must be found 
somewhere ; there must have been a being whose non-existence 
is impossible. Second. — The whole nature of an unoriginated 
being, or aggregate of his attributes, must be unoriginated, 
and necessarily what they are. A being cannot produce its own 
attributes; for this would suppose it acted before it existed. 
There is nothing in the nature of this being that is contingent, 
or that could have been otherwise than it is ; for whatever is 
contingent must have a cause, to determine its mode of exis- 
tence. Third. — The attributes of an unoriginated being must be 
possessed by it unlimitedly ; for, to possess an attribute imper- 
fectly, or only in a certain degree, must suppose some cause 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 65 

to have modified this being, so as to make him incapable of hav- 
ing that attribute in any other than an imperfect degree. But 
no cause can be admitted in this case, because this is the first 
of all beings, and the cause of all things. Further, an imperfect 
attribute, or any one, that is not in its highest degree, must be 
capable of improvement, by exercise and experience ; which 
would imply that the unoriginated being must have been origin- 
ally imperfect ; and that he is deriving further degrees of per- 
fection, from the exercise of his own powers, and acquaintance 
with his own works, which is absurd, and would make the Divine 
Being indebted to his own works for his unlimited perfections. 
Fourth. — The unoriginated being must exist everywhere, in the 
same manner he does any where; for if he did not, it would 
suppose some cause, by which his presence was limited, but 
there can be no cause to limit that presence, as before said. 
Fifth. — This unoriginated being, must be a simple uncom- 
pounded being, identically the same everywhere ; not consisting 
of parts, for these must be distinct and independent ; nor of whole, 
for this is the aggregrate of parts ; nor of magnitude, or quan- 
tity, for these signify a composition of parts. This being must 
be as truly one, and omnipresent, as the present moment of time 
is indivisibly one, in all places at once ; and can no more be 
limited or measured by time, than the present moment can be 
measured by duration. Hence, this being cannot be matter, 
because to this belongs extension, divisibility, figurability and 
mobility, which imply limitation : God and matter have essen- 
tially contrary properties, as God is not material but immaterial. 
It has already been shown, that there necessarily must exist, 
one infinite, unoriginated, and eternal being. Now this being 
must be a thinking being ; for it is as impossible to conceive, that 
unthinking matter could produce a thinking intelligent being, 
as it is to conceive that nothing could produce something. God 
therefore is not indebted to matter for his being. Let us suppose 
any parcel of matter to be eternal, we shall find it in itself, una- 
ble to produce anything. Let us suppose its parts firmly at rest 
together ; if there were no other being, must it not eternally re- 
main so, a dead inactive lump ? is it possible to conceive that it 
can add motion to itself, or produce it, in other portions of 
matter ? Matter, therefore, by its own strength, cannot produce 
in itself, so much as motion. The motion it has, must also be 
from eternity, or else added to matter by some other being more 
powerful than itself. But let us suppose motion eternal too ; yet 
matter, unthinking matter and motion, could never produce 
thought. Knowledge will still be as far beyond the power of 
motion and matter to produce, as matter is beyond the power of 
nothing to produce. Divide matter into as minute parts as you 
will, vary the figure and motion of it, as much as you please, it 



66 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

will operate no other ways upon other bodies of proportionate 
bulk, than it did before this division. The minutest particles of 
matter strike, impel and resist one another, just as the greater do ; 
and that is all that they can do. So that if we will suppose noth- 
ing eternal, matter can never begin to be. If we suppose bare 
matter, without motion, eternal, then motion can never begin 
to be. If we suppose only matter and motion eternal, then 
thought can never begin to be. For it is impossible to conceive, 
that matter, either with or without motion, could have originally, 
in and from itself, sense, perception, and knowledge ; as is evi- 
dent from hence, that sense, perception, and knowledge, must be 
properties eternally separate from matter, and every particle of 
it. It necessarily follows, therefore, that the Eternal Being can- 
not be matter, but a being of infinite and eternal perception. 
Sixth. — This being must possess intelligence, and power un- 
limited, and all other attributes, that are in themselves absolute 
perfections. Attributes are divided into natural and moral, or 
primary and secondary. The first, are those which essentially 
belong to the nature of a being considered in itself; the second, 
in its manner of acting towards others. All the attributes of 
God being uncontingent, must be unlimited ; and, therefore, his 
knowledge must" extend to all that does or can exist, or that 
cannot and never will exist ; " and his power to do every thing 
that can be done," and there is nothing which is consistent with 
truth, harmony, and reason, and God the judge of that truth, 
harmony, and reason, that is impossible for God to do. Sev- 
enth. — There cannot be in the universe more than one unoriginat- 
ed being : for as this being is possessed of infinite attributes, let us 
suppose a second unoriginated being. He must possess the 
same ; for both these beings are eternal, and necessarily the 
same, everywhere alike present, without any possible difference 
or distinction, and therefore one and the same. Two such can- 
not subsist : and the supposition of a second such being," is as 
absurd as twenty would be, and would therefore be « only a men- 
tal repetition of the being and attributes of the fast. Eighth. — 
Absolute power, as an attribute of God. does not act of necessity, 
but freely," and as directed by his will : " the power may exist 
without being exerted ; if it cannot, then it acts by necessity ; 
and if so, then necessity is the agent, and not the free" will « of 
the independent God ; he can do what he will ; but he will do 
only what is right," as he cannot will what is wrong, any more 
than he can cease to be. 

Matter, therefore, as above argued, we perceive, whether con- 
nected with spirit or otherwise, cannot be from eternity. The 
doctrine of the eternity of matter, accordingly, is unfounded in 
reason, as some philosophers affect to believe ; setting up a god 
which they call nature, while they deny the author of nature, 
which is nothing but a system of spirit and matter, produced by 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 67 

his will and power. Matter as matter, whether animate or inani- 
mate, whether existing in the four great elelements, earth, air, 
fire and water, or as amalgamated in the forms of animals or 
men, is not endowed with the power of thought ; and more than 
this — it has not, as matter, even one sensation, as the moment 
a certain principle called life, ceases to animate a body, it ceases 
to have the sensation of feeling-, although there is not a particle 
less of matter, than a moment before this principle left it. Mat- 
ter as matter, is not capable of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, 
nor feeling; as the instant that mysterious principle called life, 
passes away, these powers go with it, and who can say that they 
do not in some unknown manner continue, and attach them- 
selves to the spirits of men, in a disembodied condition, and thus 
are held in reserve against the hour of the resurrection, to be- 
come in another state constituent parts of the mode of being 
which shall then be entered into ; when the soul, which is the five 
senses with the passions ; and spirit, which is the mind, and the 
body, which is the companion of both, shall again be eternally 
united, either for good or ill, as character will decide. But some 
have strangely imagined, that the organization of matter pro- 
duces mind, a species of being wholly distinct from the nature 
of matter. Were this so, we should have one instance, at least, 
of an effect's rising above its cause, which sentiment, in philoso- 
phy, is held by all classes of reasoners, as wholly absurd ; be- 
cause mind is superior to matter, however it may be organized. 
Rational mind is not, therefore, the result of organization ; it is 
a result of the wisdom and power of God, and was an endow- 
ment superadded to the formation and organization of the human 
body, by which that body of organized matter was to be governed. 
If then it is superior to the body, and is the effect of the poiver 
and wisdom of God, in a sense superior to the creation of matter, 
it is then immortal of necessity, on account of its origin and paren- 
tage, who is the God, of whom it is said, that he is the Father of 
the spirits of all flesh ; namely, of all human flesh, in a differ- 
ent and more exalted way than he is of the spirits of dumb beasts. 
As to atheistical opinion that matter is eternal ; and that out of 
organized. matter, mind, or spirit arises; it is refuted, when we 
recollect that mind is superior to matter, and therefore could 
never have been produced in that way, as an effect can never 
exceed in excellence its cause. But this conclusion is met as 
Atheists suppose : when they contend, but do not maintain, that 
mind, spirit, or thought, is but mere matter after all, though of a 
very refined and delicate description ; yet, is nothing more nor less 
than pure matter, the product of organization, as in the case of 
man and all other animals. But this conclusion is still refuted 
by another view of the subject as follows : If mind, spirit and 
thought, is matter, an accumulation of this kind of matter, must 
at last, where a sufficient amount of these delicate particles are 



68 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

collected together, become tangible ; as it is impossible to have 
any other conception of the subject than this, on the principle 
that like begets like, through all the ranks of being of a terestial 
character. If mind is matter, then thoughts, which are the 
offspring of mind, are but the finer particles of such matter ; and 
may therefore be supposed as being capable of an accumulation, 
so as to become tangible. Now can this be shown to ever have 
happened, during all the past ages of the earth ? It cannot be 
shown ; notwithstanding their incessant production and accumu- 
lation above every other production of organized matter, as to 
numbers and multitudes. Were all the human race now living, 
with all that may yet come into being, not only on this globe, 
but on all globes of the universe, during unending ages, to fix 
their thoughts on one located point, however small, there would 
not appear the least particle of matter ; neither would there be 
any disorder in their condition, on account of that focal point, 
no more than if such accumulation of thought had never existed. 
This conclusion, arises out of the fact that no such accumula- 
tion, or appearance of matter, has ever taken place, as arising out 
of such a cause. The products of organized matter, in all other 
instances, as of animal or vegetable existencies, can be, and are 
made tangible, to some one or more of the senses, by accumula- 
tion, however refined, in odors, gasses, or otherwise ; yet this 
product of matter, called mind, spirit, or thought, has never been 
thus collected and made tangible : and until it can be done we 
claim the argument, which denies that mind or spirit is the pro- 
duct of matter ; but the exact contrary ; matter must have mind 
for its origin, and that mind is God the creator of all. That 
mind is not matter, is further shown, from the fact (though hinted 
at above) that real matter of any and all kinds, however gross 
or rarified, is perceiveable by some one or all the senses ; as 
manifested by smelling, tasting, feeling, hearing and seeing. 
But mind is not thus ascertained ; mind cannot be seen, heard, 
smelt, felt nor tasted ; yet we know it exists ; and therefore is 
not matter nor the product of matter, or it could be tested by 
some one or all of the senses. 

All the organizations which are called animal organizations, 
we ascertain is produced by this creator ; who, in the creation of 
each species, not only made them male and female, but gave 
them the desire and the power to propagate ; by which, we per- 
ceive designs, of which mere matter is not capable. Were the 
earth of itself, anciently capable of producing animal organiza- 
tion, as we find now existing ; what is the reason it does not 
now produce them ; and why has it not done so in all past ages,- 
as far back as the annals of man extend ? No Atheist can answer 
this. All the operations of chance, as the falling of trees, the 
casting their leaves, the tumbling of buildings, when thrown 
down by the winds, or by convulsions, the drift-wood of a head- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 69 

long stream ; are all demonstrative of the want of order ; confu- 
sion every where stamps the mass with disarrangement. But 
the exertions of the creative mind is seen in the order of the 
great universe ; the arrangements of the worlds in orbits ; their 
velocity ; attraction and repulsion of each other ; their various 
products j arising out of first and implanted principles, for defi- 
nite and certain ends, are all proofs of the exertion of mind ; for 
we repeat it, that chance is nothing but confusion, and never 
was capable of order and mechanical arrangement, of which 
every Atheist, educated in Christian countries is obliged to ac- 
knowledge. It is therefore, much easier to conceive of the eter- 
nal existence of such a mind ; having mechanical powers in an 
unlimited sense ; than to believe in the eternal existence of mere 
matter, which has no such power, and therefore could never 
have arranged itself, as seen in the great universe of existencies. 

If, then, the works of God, whether they consist of mind or 
matter, are not from eternity, as himself is, it follows of necessity 
that there was a time when there was nothing in being but God ; 
and at whatever period it was that the first creative act took 
place, it also follows, that as much of boundless eternity had al- 
ready been, as shall ever be, from that time or period — as it is 
impossible, even in thought, to make any progress toward the 
boundaries of that which is boundless, or of that which has no 
beginning. But does it follow from this fact, that God, who has 
shown himself to the intellectual part of his works, as an active 
and ever-producing being, was for so great a period as from un- 
beginning eternity or duration, in a state of torpor, or inactivi- 
ty ? Or, could he have begun his creative works any sooner than 
he did? 

As to the first query, we imagine it is answered, when we re- 
collect that the Supreme Being is the ever-living God, and is 
pure intellect or spirit, pervading boundless, shoreless and mea- 
sureless space ; and therefore, as he is life, and the author of all 
life, whether of sensation, or of spirit, could not, therefore, pre- 
vious to his acts of creation, have been inactive, or in a torpor. 
All created beings, whether spirit or corporeal, are local, howe- 
ver swiftly they may have it in their power to pass from one 
place to another ; they are, nevertheless, still local, as they are 
every moment in a definite place, are not anywhere else at the 
same time ; while the Divine Being is every where present, and 
is not, therefore local ; unless it be said that boundless eternity 
and space is this location. But on the subject of the activity of 
the Deity before his first act of creation, we are capable of form- 
ing no ideas, except by comparison, and as arising out of this 
state of things, in which we now are ; where we see a multitude 
of operations going forward in the earth, the waters, and the 
heavens. But whether the Deity can be, and always was ac- 
tive, without bringing into being tangible or spiritual objects, 



70 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

need not be doubted, so long as even ourselves are made capable 
of thought, without being necessitated to produce the image of 
every thought. Why not God, therefore, who is the anthor of 
this capability ? Could he not rejoice, if we may so express the 
idea, over all the works and beings which as yet he had not 
made, as he can now that he has made them ? Were they not 
always present with him, though to themselves, as yet, they had 
no being ? Could he not as easily rejoice over that which he 
had not as yet produced, as he can now be supposed to do, over 
worlds and myriads of beings not yet brought forth ? Most cer- 
tainly, or we retrench the attribute, omniscience. The mind of 
the Deity dwells with all that is past, and with all that is to 
come, the same as / he does now with the present moment : of 
whose mind we dare not say, it ever had a first thought — but 
rather that He is unbeginning, unimproving, unending and per- 
fect intellect ; of which ideas we can have but small conceptions, 
further than to spell the words here on paper. 

The idea of solitude, as it relates to God, though he had not 
made us, or any thing besides, by millions of ages as soon as he 
did, or even never, is absurd ; for we may not suppose his works 
essential to his happiness, especially as it relates to companion- 
ship, or as furnishing occasion for a display of activity ; as even 
now, though space seems filled with an infinity of worlds, and sys- 
tems of worlds, the works of his power, yet God. the sacred 
three in one, is as much alone as if the worlds had no being ; 
for which of all his works, even among the hosts of his angels, 
is his fellow, or who is his companion ? Within himself are his 
own infinite resources, and mode of being, the secret of which 
can never be communicated, as there can exist no being whose 
mind can dilate to receive the immense and shoreless communi- 
cation. 

But as to the second query, whether he could have begun his 
works of mind and matter sooner than he did. We answer, no. 
Because, had he, as we reckon time and progress, put forth his 
first tangible unnumbered ages sooner than he did, relatively 
speaking, it could have been no sooner in fact ; or had he not till 
now begun to create, it could be no later. 

The terms late and early, have no application to eternity ; as 
there is no starting point, so there is no ending. If he had not 
till millions of ages yet to come, have commenced creation, there 
could be no time lost, as there could be none gained in so deep 
a sea. Where there is no expenditure there can be no increase, 
for eternity is the habitation of the High and Holy One — the 
Eternal Being. 

It is an amazing thought, when we reflect, that myriads in 
numbers, beyond the power even of angelic computation, of such 
systems of universal nature may have been created, and have 
passed away, as now exists, and that they may have been as di- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 71 

versified as would equal their numbers before this present sys- 
tem of things existed ; yet the sentiment remains, that there must 
have been a first creative act, or that which has been produced 
is as eternal as the producer, which is absurd. And as many 
more such universes may yet be brought into being, after this 
shall have answered all the purposes for which it was produced, 
and shall have passed away. By universes we do not mean spi- 
rits and souls of men, whether commencing on this world or on 
others ; but simply the matter of which they are composed — the 
suns and their respective systems. We believe, however, that 
when a system is dismissed from being, by the Creator, it is only 
to give place to another, better suited to the advanced condition 
of such intellectual beings as shall have passed through a former 
state, which we will call their first or incipient condition, such 
as the race of man is now passing through, in this life. So that 
a perpetual advance in happiness, in approximating toward the 
author of all existences, of such as shall have gone through a 
probationary state safely and virtuously, is to be expected as a 
fruit of immortality. \ 

Although we have said above, that creation, with all its tribes, 
visible and invisible, are not essential to the happiness of God; 
yet the Scriptures inform us, that for His "pleasure, they are 
and were created." Rev. iv. 11. But we may enquire, what 
kind of pleasure it is, whether essential, or otherwise, of 
which it speaks, and conclude it to be the pleasure of making 
others happy — the joys of philanthropy, and of being known and 
beloved ; as it is said again in Scripture — " when He (Christ) 
shall come to be glorified in all his saints, and to be admired in 
all them that believe." If so, then is he not therefore, to be more 
happy, when this shall take place, than if he (Christ) had not 
made man,* and therefore, does he not derive a degree of happi- 
ness from this circumstance, and from the circumstance of crea- 
tion in general. We answer no ; — neither of essential nor of 
derived happiness, because the certainty of creation, which he 
had from everlasting purposed to perform, and also the certain- 
ty that some of the angels would of their own free will continue 
to love him, as also some of the human race, of their own assis- 
ted yet unforced will, and free agency, would admire him in 
their creation, redemption, and saltation, afforded the same 
amount of happiness millions of ages before — yes, from all eter- 
nity ; as all that he has done, or will do, was, and is ever present 
with him, as much so as the present moment of time. No degree 
of happiness, is derived to the Divine Being, from anything 
which he has made ; and though it is said, as in Prov. viii. 3i, 
that his " delights were with the children of men," or as in an 
other place, Heb. xii. 2, that for the joy that was set before him 

^Hebrews i. 3, states that Christ Is the creator, "and upholus all things by the 
W0id of his powsr." 



72 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

(Christ) endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down 
at the right hand of the throne of God," yet all this delight and 
all this joy, arose out of himself, the same as fruit arises out of 
the tree, and is indebted to nothing of a foreign nature for its ex- 
istence. The mere ability to produce when and where he will 
the evidences of his power, wisdom, and goodness, is an ingre- 
dient of his essential happiness, paramount to their production ; 
so that whatever delight arises to him out of his works, they are 
the produce of his own nature, and intended wholly for the joy 
of others ; and however he may extend or retrench his works, 
even to the annihilation of all he has made, or can make ; yet 
the main principle is still in his possession, and is therefore equal- 
ly happy, whether there be existences or not : and in this way he 
is the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

But as we have said a few pages above, that we should find it 
necessary to put on the swift wings of imagination, and travel 
back through countless ages, up to a time, in the annals of eterni- 
ty, when the Most High put forth his^rs^ creative act ; we will 
therefore now suppose ourselves arrived at that awful point in 
the boundless ocean of eternity. But now that we are there, 
what is our business, and what has this to do with the origin of 
sin, or cause of the being of Satan ? — which, as follows, we shall 
attempt to show. 

We have already supposed it a determination of the Deity from 
everlasting, to bring into being existences to consist of mind and 
of matter, as we can conceive of no other, and indeed, we believe 
that no other can exist ; but the modification of mind and matter, 
as demonstrated on the face of the universe, shows the Author 
able consistently to vary them, still more and more, as long as 
being shall endure : which shall be evermore. 

But whether the first creative act, produced mind, or matter, 
can scarcely amount to a question : yet as it respects the matter 
which composes the Solar system, of which our earth is a part, 
we. at once allow it to have preceded the creation of such mind 
as have their habitations here ; the ancestors of which, was the 
two first of our race, as we learn from the history of Moses, that 
great legislator of the Jews. But we believe that such was not 
the case, when the first and more ancient creation of spirits took 
place ; as it is more consistent with reason to suppose that a first 
demonstration of creative power, would be to produce something 
more resembling the Author, than mere matter could do, which 
is no resemblance at all. Spirits, therefore, we cannot doubt, 
were the kind of beings which were first brought forth, having 
intellectual attributes,— and in this respect bearing an honorable, 
and glorious affinity and likeness to their origin: to which mat- 
ter can never aspire. That spiritual beings existed previous to 
the creation of Adam and Eve, and the heavens and the earth, 
is evident from Job, (which book is supposed to have been writ- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 73 

ten by Moses, others by Job himself, and is a true history of that 
afflicted man,) chap, xxxviii. 47 : where it is said that God en- 
quired of Job, where he was when the foundations of the earth 
were laid : when all the sons of God shouted together. The- 
morning stars and sons of God are the same beings, or they could 
not have both sang and shouted together, as is said they did in 
that chapter, when they beheld the works of creation, as consum- 
mated in the formation of the Solar system, as perfected in six 
times twenty-four hours, or six days. This however, is by some 
boldly disputed, who have, as they pretend, but falsely, found out 
that the Hebrew Bible says it was six divine ages, amounting to 
an untold number of years : during which great periods, the 
whole earth swarmed — both land and sea — before man was crea- 
ted — with hideous monsters, all of which are now extinct, — as 
found embedded in clay and stone. By this discovery it is easy 
to perceive, that the Sabbath has no foundation ; a thing which 
infidels have always despised, and fain would destroy, but can- 
not. It is true however, that extinct races of animals, and mon- 
sters too, are found thus embedded in limestone quarries, in 
Europe and other countries : yet this does not prove the position 
that the earth was six divine, or great ages, in coming forward to 
its present perfection ; as that time enough, since its creation — as 
accounted for in the Bible — has transpired to produce these 
appearances, which have been deposited by the waters of the 
great flood in the earth, and since been encrusted by stone. 

Both ancients and moderns agree that the expression — " morn- 
ing stars and sons of God" point out spiritual beings, who 
existed prior to the creation of this system, and are spoken of in 
Scripture, under the names of angels — hosts of angels — troops 
of angels, and that they celebrated with expressions of joy, the 
magnificent appearance of the immense fabric of the Solar sys- 
tem, as an additional evidence of the power, the glory, and the 
dominion of the great Creator. Thus we think we have estab- 
lished from the above cited Scripture, that spiritual beings exis- 
ted before the time of the creation of Adam and Eve, and that 
these sons of God, who thus celebrated the works of the Creator, 
were not made at the self-same time with Adam, as some have 
thought: as such an idea does not give time for the probationary 
state of the angels, so that such as stood and such as fell, might 
thus appear in their various characters ; for from the time of Ad- 
am's creation till his fall, does not appear to have been more 
than about ten days, and possibly less, which to ascertain, we 
will suppose as follows : — Adam it appears was created on the 
sixth day, which was Saturday, the next being the Sabbath, he 
no doubt worshipped and sanctified, as it is said that God ceased 
his labor and rested that day. On Monday no doubt, the ani- 
mals were made to pa?s before him, to receive their names — but 
among them he found none as a companion for himself. How 



74 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

long it took him thus to name all the animals — which it is likely 
were produced in pairs only, and no more — we cannot tell, but 
a day we should suppose was enough, as the number could not 
have been very great. On Tuesday therefore, it is probable that 
Adam having found himself alone, as to a companion, was 
caused to sleep, while God took from his side the famous rib — 
the origin of the female of the human race. On Wednesday, it 
is likely they were brought together, and spent the day in for- 
warding an acquaintance with each other — which was so neces- 
ary for their future comfort and happiness — and in selecting a 
place of sleep at night. On Thursday, for aught we know, the 
Law was given, respecting the tree of knowledge, and the sub- 
ject of death alluded to. On Friday they were shown the field 
and trees of Paradise, and instructed how to cultivate and dress 
them. On Saturday they may have commenced their happy 
labor : but not in toil and sweat as now, but as a gentle recrea- 
tion, furnishing cause of conversation, examination, and compar- 
ison, which was the origin of all the social happiness of the 
globe. On the Sabbath they rested, and now Adam with his 
bride of Paradise, celebrated the second Sabbath of creation in 
recounting the history of their first thoughts, and in conversa- 
tion with angelic spirits, about God and the wonders of his 
power, and in acts of devotion and holy aspirations. On Mon- 
day they again resumed their attentions to the fields of Paradise, 
and in ascertaining the kinds of fruit the most delicious to their 
taste, and in alternate labor and converse. Their language was 
given by inspiration, from above, and was the most eloquent, the 
most comprehensive, and the most musical that has ever saluted 
human ears, being as near the language of heaven and the happy 
hosts of that world, as could have been spoken by the breath of 
earth's then immortals. On Tuesday they became excursive 
in their imaginations, and desirous of knowing more of ihe extent 
and products of their domain, and to Wonder at its immensity, 
and profuseness of beauty, and to look over its battlements down 
to the country beneath them. This not unfrequently on the 
account of the various shapes of the face of the ground, and in 
one's having a desire to examine this side of a beautiful grove 
of fruit bearing trees, while the other incidentally passed on the 
other way, strayed apart, but coming together again, with joy 
and smiles, so soon as they found an opening where they could. 
But while thus passing on, in any direction, as the glories of the 
place invited, a beautiful stream, having a cascade, which dashed 
its clear waves over a ledge of diamonds, attracted the eyes and 
ears of Adam, where he gazed long and profound at the silver 
rush of the liquid flood — a scene entirely new. During this time 
Eve had seen at a distance, on a mount, the most gorgeous land- 
scape of roses, trees, and vines, with an immensity of the herbage 
of Eden, while thousands of the birds of Paradise feathered the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 75 

air with gold, and sung the songs of ether, in gay eddies on the 
wind. Thither she was attracted to enjoy with nearer eyes the 
splendor of the place, and departed, unknown to Adam, who 
stood still gazing on the ceaseless plunge of the head waters of 
the Euphrates, as that was the stream, delighted with its roaring 
music, and heeded not that Eve was gone. But as he viewed 
the passing waters, there sprung a fish from its bosom, and glit- 
tered in the sunny rays a moment, and then was hid again 
beneath its waves, and then another. This was a new discovery, 
a creature which had not passed before him on the day in which 
he had named the animals and fowls, had now leaped suddenly 
up from an unknown element, asking for a name ; when turning 
to Eve to know whether she had seen this creature, found she 
was not there, nor any where in sight. He now followed down 
the stream, nothing doubting but soon to find her ; yet he found 
her not, till passing by a grove of oranges, he saw far to the left, 
his Eve, descending from a gentle slope, having in her hands the 
very fruit of the forbidden tree, of which she so soon prevailed 
on him to taste ; which was ten days, including the Saturday of 
his creation, till he fell — if we have conjectured rightly. 

But we have wandered from our subject, which was of the 
proof of spiritual beings and of angels having first been created, 
but we will now return, and say, that as strange as it may appear, 
many Universalists disallow of the being of spiritual angels ; 
although the Bible is full of accounts of such beings, which they 
say were nothing but men, or messengers of men, and not 
spirits, as commonly supposed. But to go with them as far as 
we can, we do not dispute but the term angel, does in some places 
in the Scriptures, signify ministers of religion, mere mortals, and 
extraordinary messengers of this cast, not unfrequently ; yet we 
must contend, that the word as found in a mltitude of other 
places in the Bible, signifies, beyond all contradiction, super- 
natural beings, and spirits of the eternal world, who have at 
various, aiid on a multitude of occasiens, appeared to the human 
race, as sent by him who governs all. If not, then what are we 
to do with the account in the book of Luke, chap. ii. 9, 13, where ' 
it is said that while certain shepherds of the Jews were attending 
on their flocks by night, there appeared to them the angel of the 
Lord, whose presence was accompanied by a shining splendor, far 
above their heads ; a circumstance not belonging to the race of 
man. But this angel of the Lord had scarcely announced his 
message, when there burst forth from the skies a host of angels, 
a multitude of heavenly beings, who poured forth strains of 
music, such as no mortal ears had ever heard on earth ; corrob- 
orating that which the first angel had stated, which was that a 
Saviour, who was Christ the Lord, was that night born in the 
city of David, who, when they had thus declared their message, 
vanished out of sight, and went away into heaven : look at the 



76 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

text. Could all this have been said of mere men ? never, as the 
whole transaction took place in the skies, over their heads, a 
situation in which men are not often found, on account of the 
principle of gravitation, unless we suppose some of the rogueish 
fellows of the city, had made themselves a balloon, and having 
ascended to that height, set it on fire while they cried out in the 
midst of its blazing glories, as it is said the angels did, announcing 
the birth of the Son of God, &c. But we believe the balloon is 
a modern invention, and was unknown in those early times. 
If then spirits were the first beings which were created, when 
as yet there existed no system of nature — nature was not yet 
produced — was not born into being — had not spread out her 
fields of suns, of globes, of oceans, of rivers, of fountains of water, 
of forests, of herbage, of animals and of men : — what therefore 
could have furnished those newly created spirits with subjects 
of observation, and mental employment ; as intellect without 
employment, can be considered nothing less than a defect in the 
economy of things in the very outset of existences. In relation 
to this, would it be amiss, were we to imagine, that notwithstand- 
ing the high intellectual state in which the angels were undoubt- 
edly created ; that first of all, the mystery of their own being, 
could have been an inexhaustable source of conjectural employ- 
ment, till such time as some revelation should be made on the 
subject by the Creator. 

If no revelation— no communication, between our first parents 
and their Creator, had taken place ; how long, we may enquire, 
would it have been, before they would have found out whether 
they were created or not, or by what means they came into being, 
or whether they were not eternal and without a cause or com- 
mencement of being % could they ever have solved the mystery? 
we think not. So with the first spirits ; they found themselves 
existing in multitudes, active in their powers of mind ; glorious 
in appearance, and exceedingly happy, surrounded on all sides 
by a blissful heaven ; so created, as was adapted to their spiritual 
state of being; but not consisting of gross matter, as belongs to 
our condition, but of a pure and rarefied description, so as to be 
above ponderosity and the tangibility of such senses as we pos- 
sess. If it is said of man, that he was created in the likeness 
and image of his Creator, should it be thought strange that his 
place of dwelling, his beautiful Paradise, should in some sense, 
correspond to his mental condition ; and likewise be a faint type 
or shadow of the great and sublime heaven of the angels, and 
final home of all the good. 

This is no new thought, for it has been conjectured in ages 
past, by the immortal Milton, that our earth, as well as all worlds, 
resemble, in variety of hills and vales, of mountains and plains, 
of sun and shade, of streams and fountains, of forests and savan- 
nas, of fruits and flowers of ocean and dry land ; that great 



ANGELS OF THB SCRIPTURES. 77 

resting place of happy beings. Matter, as even known to mor- 
tals, is found capable, under the all modulating hand of Gcd, of 
being exceedingly rarefied, as in the instance of light, the odor 
of flowers, <fcc, which are the produce of matter, and conse- 
quently can be termed nothing more or less than matter ', but not 
subject, as the crude originals are to ponderosity or gravitation. 
Heaven therefore, so far as relates^to identity and location, may, 
if we may so express ourselves, be in some such sense the beau- 
tiful and all perfect prototype of all systems of matter, which the 
Great Eternal has or may cause to come into being. Upon this 
hypothesis, may we not allow fancy a little latitude, and suppose 
heaven as a location, adorned with forests, with herbage, with all 
trees of fruit, with all flowers, with all landscapes, varied in beauty, 
such as even angelic taste could never devise ; traversed by streams 
of waters as liquid silver, rushing over pebbles of gold and dia- 
monds, with hills and vales, adorned with fountains, such as no 
Greek, or lavish Chaldean, ere caused to shower the dry and spark- 
ling air, from marble fonts, to make glorious a place of rest. 
Mountains of God, cataracts of the skies of heaven, pouring from 
the pearly summits of beauteous hills, and projecting ledges of sil- 
ver, their cooling volumes of flood, to adorn this palace of the uni- 
verse, in which all that is beautiful in all other worlds, is here 
found in the aggregate amplified and exceeded. Appearing, 
however, in some such fashion, as would a universal christaliza- 
tion, being a world of light, yet retaining all that immensity of 
light and shade, a trait of variety which now distinguishes, beauti- 
fies and adorns such parts of creation, in other worlds, where sin 
has not yet blasted their primeval glories, as in this. Such, may 
not heaven be, but ten thousand times more in extent than a thou- 
sand systems like ours, suited to the purity and pursuits of a 
spiritual state of being, so far as location and a sublimated state 
of tangibility can do even under the husbandry of the Creator, 
and will perhaps be an item in those pleasures, which in the 
Scripture are aid to be at God's right hand forever more. To 
give the reader some idea of our meaning about a sublimated 
state of tangibility ; we have only to suppose that all the sub- 
stances of the earth, with the earth itself, in a state of perfect 
crystalization ; while each condition of matter, whether earth, 
stones, ores, minerals, waters, oceans, forests, animals, fowls, men, 
cities, towns, houses, with every article of the globe, should re- 
tain, nevertheless, their respective differences, so they could as 
easily be distinguished, one from another, as they now are. In 
such a case, there could be no obscurity, all would be bright and 
wonderful ; as when the sun shining on such a world, the min- 
gled hues of different substances would blend and mingle their 
ten thousand dies, so as no rainbow was ever adorned, glittering 
through the entire mass of the earth, and over its entire surface. 
The same in the night would be the case — with this difference 



78 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



however — which would be the difference there is between the 
shining of the sun in his strength, and that of the moon and the 
stars — producing a less gogeous splendor, chastened and softened 
by the night, but not obscured. Such a state of things, as it res- 
pects heaven, is even alluded to by the Revelator, — see chap. xxi. 
11, — where the city of the new Jerusalem is compared to a most 
precious stone, even like Jasper, clear as crystal And in the 
course of the chapter, it is again said: verse 18, that the walls are 
of Jasper, and the city, pure gold, like unto clear glass : and that 
its foundations were laid of twelve different kinds of pelucid 
stones — blending their hues together. Also Rev. iv. 2, 3 : God 
himself is said to appear in splendor, like a sardine stone — which 
is a blood red — and that round about the throne on which he 
sat, in sight or at a great distance, there was a. halo, in form like 
a rainbow, whose color was that of the sapphire — which is a 
most brilliant blue. The very throne of God is said by Ezekial, 
i. 28 — to be in color as the sapphire — while deep within, there 
was the color of amber — like fire — which shot off its splendors in 
the distance, causing the halo above noticed by the Revelator. 
Also in Exodus, xxiv. 10 — the same idea is advanced, where the 
body of heaven in its clearness, is spoken of, with paved work 
of sapphire stones : — a sparkling blue. 

In such a world as this, whose soil is golden earth, forming 
the base of heaven's diamond quarries, jutting out on the ranges 
of eternal mountains, which give rise to perpetual rivers, the 
waters of life — the drinlr of angels and the spirits of the just 
made perfect ; were the first habitations of the first intelligen- 
ces of omnific power. Along these streams of heaven, cluster 
in endless profusion, all groves of delight, laden with fruit, varied 
in shape, in flavor, and in perfumes, beyond all the visions of the 
sons of the mount of Apollo, and the Elysian fields. From cleft 
to cleft, on the sides of the mountain ridges, descend in broad 
showers, vines laden with clusters of such grapes as grew not in 
old Canaan, nor in the fields of Adams principality, before his 
fall ; from which flows the wine of the kingdom of which the Son 
of man and his disciples shall drink in heaven. See Math. xxvi. 
29, " But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of 
the vine till that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's 
kingdom." Among these groves which never fade, whose leaves 
never lose their verdure, nor cast untimely fruit, but wait the 
pressure of seraphs' fingers ; there sing all birds of celestial song, 
with sounds of sweetest melody, so that ever is sounding in the 
ear of heaven some note of other worlds, yet so as not to tire, 
ever seeming new and born each moment fresh into life. Every- 
where were glorious beings in sight, some viewing from the 
mountains the boundless horizon of that world, while beneath, 
there was heaven's broad savannas spread out in their vastness ; 
others walked by the streams beneath, amid the foliage, now hid 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 79 

now seen, breathing the pure air of that sinless clime, while they 
discoursed things unutterable to mortals. As yet no traveller 
had arrived from other worlds, as at that time none were made. 
The great centre of all succeeding creations, had but newly 
bloomed in the midst of eternity, and this was heaven, around 
which it was intended the unending works of God should 
spread out their circles of suns, of planets,, and of satelites. 
Where is the impropriety of supposing heaven, the first residence 
of the first spiritual beings, as the mighty centre of the universe, 
the grand nucleus of all worlds, to which all are attracted ; yet 
repelled so as to produce celestial revolutions of the great yet in- 
creasing universe ? none that we can see, as it presents no objec- 
tion to a state of spiritual happiness ; but is suited to such a 
state ; as location, and association, are essential to the happiness 
of all finite exstences. 

That heaven is a location is easily proven from the Scrip- 
ture, from a multitude of places and circumstances, a few of 
which are as follows : — Deut. x. 14, " Behold the heaven and 
the heaven of heavens ) is the Lord thy God's ; the earth also, 
with all that therein is" What is meant by the heaven of 
heavens, if it is not this great centre of all being ? Now unless 
the heaven of heavens, so expressed by way of eminence, has a 
real existence and a location, as well as the earth, how can it be 
said to belong to God, if there is no such place ? If there is no 
local heaven of heavens, then there is no local earth ; for the one 
is as much alluded to in the text, and identified, as the other ; 
and as belonging, both of them, to God : if one, therefore, is not 
pointed out by that Scripture, neither is the other. To the same 
doctrine, bears the Psalmist witness : chap. xx. 6, " Noio know 
I that the Lord saveth his annointed : He will hear him from 
his holy heaven." Also in another place in Deuteronomy, xxvi. 
15, the ownership, and consequently the locality, of heaven is 
brought to light : "Look doicn (or forth) from thy holy habita- 
tion, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel" Also Isaiah, 
lxiii. 15, " Look down (forth) from heaven and behold from the 
habitation of thy holiness and of glory" Luke xv. 7, " I say 
unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one smner 
that repenteth" St. Luke in another place speaks of this same 
heaven : chap. ii. 15, " And it came to pass, as the angels were 
gone away from them (the shepherds) into heaven." But if 
there is no heaven besides that which is commonly called the 
firmament, in which the stars are situated, and the atmosphere 
of the earth, how could it be thus written 1 how could the angels 
go away into a heaven which has no existence, and no location ? 

But this fact can be shown from another circumstance, which 
is the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord. No per- 
son will disallow, that the Saviour's body, while on earth, was 
as local, tangible and real as the bodies of other men, and as such 



80 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

was put to death, and raised from the dead, appeared to the dis- 
ciples immediately after, who handled him, and saw him eat a 
piece of fish, and a honeycomb. If then it be allowed that his 
body was local when on earth, we think we gain the point, and 
establish that the heaven of heavens, the home of happy spirits, 
and the place where God more particularly reveals himself, is a 
location : because, that same body ascended to heaven, and is 
set down at the right hand of God. (Col. iii. 1.) But from Acts 
i. 9, 10, 11, we fully prove this belief, as follows : " And when 
he had spoken these words, while they beheld, he (Christ Jesus,) 
was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And 
wh:le they looked steadfastly toward heaven (the common skies) 
as he went up, behold two men (angels) stood by them in white 
apparel : which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing 
up into heaven, (the skies) this same Jesus which is taken up 
from you into heaven, (the heaven of heavens) shall so come in 
like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," or thitherward. 

Now it is held that this real body of the Saviour, as it was af- 
ter the crucifixion, so it is now in heaven : it of necessity fol- 
lows, that as that body was local, not being capable of being 
in more than one place at a time, and was not a spirit, as he 
himself said, at a certain time, to his disciples, after his re- 
surrection ; that heaven is local also, or he could not have as- 
cended thither with his person. If heaven, therefore, is a loca- 
tion, it follows of necessity that it was created, and situated some- 
where in the ocean of boundless space; if not, then is not the 
person, or human nature of our Lord in the heaven of heavens, 
as the Scriptures state. But that it is, we further prove from 
Acts iii. 20, 21. " And he shall send Jesus Christ, xohich was 
preached unto you : whom the heaven must receive until 
the time of restitution of all things which God hath spoken 
by the mouth all his holy prophets since the world began, 11 or 
from the time of Adam and Enoch, for Enoch was a prophet. 
And also from 1 Thess. i. 10. u And to w ait for his son from 
heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus 11 

Universalists say, that there is to be no definite day of judg- 
ment, and yet they believe in Christ's resurrection and ascension 
up to heaven ; why not also further believe that he shall come 
again in like manner, as the two angels said he will. See Acts 
i. 11 And if he shall come again, in like manner, it must take 
place at a definite time, and that definite time will be the day of 
judgment ; will it not ? Oh, but, says the Universalist, I believe 
he did come, and in so coming, the promise of the two angels 
was fulfilled, and the day of judgment is past. But when we 
enquire, did he come, and what was that day of judgment ? "Why, 
says one, he came at the time of the destruction of the city of 
Jerusalem by the Romans, about forty years after his ascension. 
Ah, we did not know this, and it will be a long time ere such a 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 81 

belief will find its way into our mind ; even till it can be shown 
that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, bodily as he as- 
cended ; for such was the promise, as follows : — " Ye men of 
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same 
Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come 
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" which 
we have never understood, was done, when Jerusalem was des- 
troyed, as no body saw him when he came down, and therefore 
we don't believe he did. Josephus would certainly have men- 
tioned it, as it would have been a wonderful sight, equally as 
great as his ascension was ; but he is silent, and we should think 
Universalists might as well be, till they can prove it. It is all 
folly to think that this coming again of the Saviour, was to be 
fulfilled spiritually, or in the ruin of the Jews, as the promise 
of the two men in white raiment, was to be as literally fulfilled 
as his ascension — and that his ascension was literal, is allowed 
on ail hands. 

But we will not forget our main point, which is just now, to 
prove that heaven is a real location : which we still further make 
appear, from the promises of Christ to his disciples. See John 
xiv. 2, 3. " In my Father's house, (heaven) are many mansions ; 
I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go to prepare a place 
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that 
where I am, ye may be also." These promises cannot be fulfill- 
ed but on the supposition of heaven's locality as a place, is spe* 
cified where the finite and local bodies, souls and spirits of all the 
disciples of true Christianity are finally to be assembled, so that 
the idea of the location of heaven, the ancient and first habita- 
tion of the first intelligences, is in our opinion fairly made out. 

There is a convenience of feeling in the idea or supposition of 
the location of heaven, and that its location should form the cen- 
tre of all God's sublunary works, however numerous, while 
endless ages shall prove their ceaseless flow ; inasmuch as the 
governing principles of attraction and repulsion should be found 
in this centre, acting out, in all directions, reaching onward and 
onward, without end or limitation, except by the boundaries of 
matter, producing the great equipoise of motion in the increasing 
universe of God. It is also a convenience of feeling and proprie- 
ty, in another particular; and this is: there can be but one 
Son of God, but one Lord Jesus Christ ; and as it is impossible 
that he should be incarnated but once, has therefore but one body, 
and one place of dwelling, which proves there can be but one 
heaven, and one presence, where his disciples are to be, as the 
promise is that they shall be with him, wherever he is. In aid 
of this idea we quote — Rev. v. 6, 8, respecting the Lamb, which 
is the body of Christ, who now occupies even the midst of the 
throne of God. And as there can be but one throne of God, 

6 



82 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

there can therefore, be but one heaven — one immense point, of 
congregating spirits, and that point in the midst of the Uni- 
verse. But we remark still further on the subject of that great 
promise made to his disciples, that — "where I am, there may 
ye be also" and ask, who can limit this promise, or point out 
its utmost amount. Wherefore, we imagine, that though he 
may have myriads of disciples in this world, yet there may 
be myriads of disciples in all the other worlds which now ex- 
ist, or may yet be created ; and if so, then they must come to 
that one heaven, for the promise is — "where I am there shall 
my disciples be also." What a thought is this, and what a journey 
are the righteous pursuing. But if the Word, which was God, 
that mysterious second person of the Trinity, has not, nor ever 
can be incarnated but once ; how then can, or how could other 
worlds have been redeemed, if any may have apostatized, and 
fallen, as this had done ; or may hereafter thus apostatize, in the 
course of unending ages ? To this we reply as follows : — it is 
sometimes enquired (by the inquisitive ; which, by the by, we 
consider a virtue, if tinctured with a little good manners,) if men 
cannot be saved but by Jesus Christ, how then were those saved 
who are saved, of those who died before he came into the world, 
and made the atonement ? To this it is answered ; that they 
were saved in the same way souls are saved now ; only with this 
difference ; men are saved now by a Saviour already come, and 
they were saved by a Saviour who was to come, our faith going 
back and theirs reaching forward. Now, may not this principle, 
or this economy, be extended, ad infinitum, as to duration, both 
from the time of his advent, forward forever more ; and back- 
ward to the commencement of intellectual being, embracing all 
cases of apostacy, within the reach of equitable mercy ? we think 
it may be, and is thus applied. But if faith in Christ is a neces- 
sary condition to salvation, how are other worlds to be benefited 
by his having been made a sacrifice for sin in this world, and in 
this only. The principle and the economy is possible, ardti as 
consistent as was its application to the fallen case of this world's 
inhabitants. God can never be straightened, to effect any thing 
which is not inconsistent, and can therefore, as easily send his 
angels, to any and to all worlds, which may have, or yet may 
fall, as to have sent them to this, to the Shepherds of Judea, to 
announce the fact of the arrival of the atoneing victim. In our 
case, we perceive that a band of angels were commissioned to 
this earth, as its first Gospel ministers, and if to us, why not to 
others, and to all such worlds as have, or may yet fall in the uni- 
verse of God ? Wherefore, we believe, that if any other worlds 
in the past ages of eternity, before this earth, and the system to 
which it belongs, was created ; and the incarnation of the Creator 
took place ; fell or apostatised as this has done ; that the angels, of 
God may have been employed to announce to such fallen beings ; 
accompanied with a sufficient amount of evidence, for their faith 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 83 

to lay hold of, that in the fullness of periods, the Creator would 
become incarnated, as a sacrificial victim for sin, in a certain 
world or globe, not yet created : and the whole system of salva- 
tion, as revealed from heaven to us, was thus revealed to them. 
If such may have been the case, that one globe, or even all, may 
have, or yet may apostatize ; such angels, to whom such a com- 
mission might or may be given, were, and may be permitted to 
give evidence as notable, as was the evidence given of the origin 
of the Law on Mount Sinia, or of the atonement to the Shep- 
herds ; then might such fallen beings become ministers of the 
grace of God, to their fellow beings, as is the' fact in this world ; 
preaching and turning poor sinners to the wisdom of the just. 
In support of this opinion, we see no good reason why the words 
of St. Paul may not be extended to such cases ; for who can fix 
the boundaries of the wisdom and mercy of God, to the fallen, if 
fallen under such circumstances as not to preclude the just exer- 
cise of mercy, as it appears was our condition. See Romans, vi. 
10, " For in that he died, he died unto sin once," or on the ac- 
count of sin, once, and but once forever more ; and as he is risen 
from the dead " death hath no more dominion over himP On 
which account, he cannot die any more, though millions of worlds 
were to fall as this has done ; yet the benefits of his death here, 
may, for aught we can object, be extended to all such cases, by 
the ministration of angels, and the reception of such ministration 
by faith, be the condition of their salvation, as well as of ours. 
St. Paul has recorded the same idea, in his epistle to the Hebrews, 
x. 12, " But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice (that of 
himself) for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God," 
never to suffer again for offenders. This view of the subject of 
the incarnation of God, and of the one atonement for sinners, 
such sinners as are eligible to pity ; and of the resurrection of the 
dead body of Christ, and his ascension to heaven ; we think en- 
tirely answers the query of the author of the Age of Reason, 
Thomas Paine ; which runs thus : There being many worlds in 
existence, all of which there can be no doubt, are inhabited, 
and in as much danger of falling as Adam was ; if so, then the 
Son of God has nothing less to do, than to keep on dying for 
sinning worlds, as they may happen to apostatize, all along the 
endless ages of eternity. If so, then an accumulation of corpo- 
real bodies, would be the consequence ; and were it so, would 
present an insurmountable difficulty, which Christianity never 
could solve or endue that we can see. But on the view of his 
dying but once, and the benefits of that death being extended to 
all cases of sin, which can be commiserated, in all worlds, in the 
great family of nature ; then the objection of Paine is obviated, 
and need give no further trouble. On this view, how amazingly 
is the redeeming power of Christ's death enhanced, in its glory, 
in its capability of extending without end to all possible cases of 



84 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

commiseration. On this plan, contemplation may riot in a 
boundless, fathomless ocean of display on the part of God ; and 
in ceaseless degrees of intellectual beings, as well as of numbers 
and happiness, on the part of his creatures. What hosts there 
are, and shall forever be ; besides those of this earth, who shall 
ascribe salvation to God and the Lamb, who from all worlds, 
both fallen and not fallen, shall pour as mighty torrents, in per- 
petual flow, to that one heaven ; to rest from their labors, and to 
ascend in the scale of intellectual happiness, without end. For 
if there are worlds of intellectual beings who have not sinned as 
we have done ; yet this circumstance must not be allowed to pre- 
vent their advancement in the scale of being ; lest such as have 
sinned, and have been subjected to death on that account, might 
seem to have superior privileges, on account of their resurrection, 
and happy arrival in heaven ; which could not have been if they 
had not sinned, says one. But such an opinion is not cor- 
rect, for if our race, or any other race of intellectual beings, on 
any part of the universe of God, had never sinned, nor ever shall 
sin, some mode by which they could be removed to give place 
to others, as they should be born into life, must be resorted to. 
and that mode would have been translations. That such is 
the mode, where death has not come, the two instances of the 
translations of Enoch and Elijah has been afforded to prove it, 
as well also, as to show how the saints are to get to heaven, who 
are not to die, and will be found alive on the earth at the time of 
the last day. For, on this very subject, St. Paul has said, Thes. 
i. 17, " Then we (they) which are alive and remain, shall be 
caught up together with them (those who shall then be raised 
from their graves) in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and 
so shall we even be with the Lord." This being caught up alive 
is translation, the same as Enoch and Elijah ; the same doctrine 
therefore, may be applied to all worlds, so that equality of oppor- 
tunity may obtain to those who have not sinned, as well as to 
them who have. On this subject, the ministration of angels 
to other worlds, respecting what the Son of God did in this for 
sinners, may it not be conjectured, that from his birth till his 
ascension into heaven, that myriads of these supernatural min- 
isters were ever with him, noting down, as heavenly historians, 
his acts and his sufferings. And that when the mighty history 
was finished, away they sped, as rays of light, to the respective 
worlds of the universe, which then existed, or may exist, to tell 
the tidings of salvation, and of the great atonement. 

But says one, how did they communicate it? This is answer- 
ed by referring to the case of the angels, v/ho iirst of all announ- 
ced salvation to the shepherds i Bethlehem. And further, such 
angels may have even mingled with the inhabitants of such 
worlds to which they were sent, and face to face, in familiar 
converse, told them the thrilling story of the wisdom, benevo- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 85 

lence and power of the Creator, as shown in the incarnation, 
death and resurrection of the Son of God. On this supposition, 
that of Jesus Christ being a propitiation for the sin of all worlds, 
there follows another consideration of the most animating de- 
scription to Christians of this earth, and this is it. Such as shall 
be saved, and shall safely arrive in the kingdom of heaven be- 
yond this life, will no doubt be admitted to accompany the Son 
of God on the great occasions of the judgment days of such worlds 
as may sin, as this has done, to whom some part in the awful pa- 
geantry may be committed, as will be committed to the angels of 
God at the end of this world, and to the souls of the just who are 
now in paradise, and shall accompany Him when he shall de- 
scend from heaven at the last day. 

Ah, who can foretel the ravishing events and developements 
of the wisdom and power of God, as ceaseless ages shall unfold 
their secrets ; which events and developements will occupy the 
minds of the highest intelligences, .whether of heaven itself, or 
of the spirits of other worlds, without end, perpetually increasing 
the happiness of that much desired state of things ; while those 
who shall be lost will be covered with perpetual darkness or ig- 
norance of what is going forward in the Empire of the Eternal 
God. 'Twere easy to dilate here in so bright and wide a field, 
but we desist. 



Condition of the first Spirits, and Proofs that they vjere made 
in a great variety of Orders and Degrees of Intellectual 
Power, and that their first Thoughts or Probation was 
about their Being, and of the origin of Satan. 

But to return to the subject of the employment of those first 
angelic beings, which we have left some six or eight pages above, 
with the view of now persuing it somewhat further, and to ascer- 
tain the origin of Satan. 

We remark that it is impossible to imagine any other subject 
of contemplation and mental exertion, than the mystery of their 
being, could at that period have occupied their minds, as there 
existed at that time no part of the visible creation, themselves 
and their oy/n heaven excepted, to furnish matter of reflection, 
and of communication. On comparing the thoughts of their 
minds with each other, they could but find a similarity of men- 
tal pursuit ; and the little as yet acquired on this subject could 
but stimulate to further research. At first it may have appeared 
to them that they had existed always, as no man, and it is likely 
no angel, can remember the time when he did not exist ; yet they 
may have been able from a comparison of ideas, acquired by 



86 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

mental exercise and experience of this sort among themselves, to 
have come to a conclusion that they had not been long in a state 
of society at any rate ; but hoiv, or in what manner, or from 
whence they had arrived must have been a mystery to them, till 
such time as information, from a competent source could be an- 
nounced, are believed by them. Could Adam ever have solved 
the problem of the commencement of his being ; could he have 
ever made out in and of himself the author of his own and his 
Eve's origin ? We think not. On which account it was neces- 
sary that a revelation on this very point, should be had from a 
competent source ; yet they could, by comparing their thoughts 
with each other, and from what they could see, hear, and remem- 
ber, conclude that they had not been long in a state of society 
with each other. But whether they had or had not, separately 
existed a greater or a less length of time, or whether always they 
could not have known, if they had not been told by their Maker. 
Adam could never have known from whence his Eve had come 
if God had not told him ; for when his side was opened and a 
part thereof taken away, out of which she was formed, Adam 
was in a deep sleep ; much less, therefore, could he fathom the 
higher mystery of his own creation, and that of the globe, if God 
had not told him. 

If then it is reasonable to believe that the mystery of their being 
was the first field of angelic employment, it is also as reasonable 
to suppose that the Creator did not at first reveal himself to these 
first-born sons of light ; but left them awhile to the exercise of 
their own powers, while himself remained invisible as he now 
does to the inhabitants of this, and all worlds except heaven it- 
self; but took cognizance of all their ways and mental operations. 
Out of such a state of things we may easily perceive that vari- 
ous opinions may have obtained among these sons of the morn- 
ing, these stars of God, about their existence ; yet whatever else 
their opinions may have been, they could never have come to the 
all astounding hypothesis that they had been their own creators, 
as that was impossible ; and more than this, it is much to be 
doubted whether an idea of their having been created at all ever 
entered their thoughts till revealed ; because so high, so deep and 
so incomprehensible a matter, is in our opinion above the reach 
or the invention of finite intellect, whether of men or of angels, 
and could never have obtained in earth or heaven, if this fact, 
this trait of omnipotence, had not been revealed by the Creator ; 
so important is it, in our opinion, to the glory of God, that all 
matters of moral doctrine should be a subject of revelation, and 
that of Himself, as men nor angels by their wisdom could never 
have found it out. 

But we hasten to prove from the Scriptures that the angels 
were created in a great variety of orders or of intellectual degrees. 
Such an arrangement cannot but be regarded as beautiful ; for 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 87 

variety even among celestial beings, would conduce to their hap- 
piness. Variety among men, in the powers of their minds, the 
ibrm of their bodies, and lineaments of countenance, conduce to 
happiness ; as well also as the endless variety found through all 
animal and vegetable life ; the herbage, forests, minerals and 
flowers of the earth beautify and adorn creation, making it more 
the abode of comfort and delight. 

But as heads of all the heavenly orders of holy angels, Michael 
and Lucifer seem to be pointed out. We know, however, that 
the term Lu,cifer sounds exceedingly repulsive, because by it, 
is now understood the devil — the destroyer. But such was not 
the original meaning of the name, and did not describe a malevo- 
lent being, any more than did the word Michael, the name of the 
other archangel. The term Lucifer, as used by Isaiah the Pro- 
phet, when applied in a certain sense to Nebuchadnezzar, meant 
in that tongue, which was the Chaldean, Light-bringer ; while 
Michael signified the might of God — both equally honorable 
equally glorious. But since the apostacy of Lucifer, Mi- 
chael alone is spoken of as the only arch-angel of heaven 
by St. Jude, which we learn from his using the article the 
in relation to him, which proves there is but one, and speaks 
of his having once contended with the devil about the body 
of Moses, and gives him the dignified appellation, of Michael the 
arch angel, by which is understood the highest of angelic natures 
then existing. Gabriel is also an angel of another order, but low- 
er, as he is never in the Scriptures called an arch-angel, yet is 
spoken of as a mighty angel. The ministration of this latter 
spiritual being is several times spoken of in the Bible. See Dan. 
viii. 16, where it is said, " And I heard a man's voice between the 
banks of Ulai, (or the Chaldean name of the Euphrates) which 
called and said, Gabriel, make this man (Daniel) to understand 
the vision." Again in the next chapter, the 9th of Daniel, 21, it 
is further stated respecting this spirit as follows : " Yea, while I 
(Daniel) was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel whom I had 
seen in the vision, at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, 
touched me about the time of the evening oblation." The same 
angelic being was seen of Zecherias in the inner temple, stand- 
ing on the right hand side of the altar of incense, who said, " I 
am Gabeiel that standeth in the (immediate) presence of God, and 
am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee good tidings." Luke 
i. 19. 

There are also in the book of Rev. many passages which favor 
this opinion ; viz. — of a variety of supernatural angelic orders, a 
few of which are as follows : Rev. i. 1. " The revelation of 
Jesus Christ * * * and he sent and signified it by his angel unto 
his servant John." Rev. iv. 4. There are twenty-four glorious 
beings mentioned and distinguished as elders, even in heaven ; 
which proves them as superiors, — as follows : « Around about 



bb HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

the throne were four and twenty seats : and upon the seats I saw 
four and twenty elders sitting clothed in white raiment ; and 
they had on their heads crowns of gold." In the same chapter, 
verse 8, is found other orders, differing from the elders in several 
remarkable particulars ; such as — that they were full of eyes 
within and without ; besides being clothed with three pair of 
gorgeous wings; who were employed in ascribing praises to 
Him, which was, and is, and is to come. In the fifth chapter of 
this book, verse second, is another evidence to the same effect : 
" And I saw a strong angel, proclaiming, or crying with a loud 
voice : who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals 
thereof. And 11th verse, of the same chapter, is a further 
account ; from which we infer the doctrine of a great variety of 
orders among the angels of God : — " And I beheld, and I heard 
the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts 
and the elders : and the number of them was ten thousand times 
ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud 
voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, riches 
and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." 
Rev. x. 1, 2, 3 : " And I saw another mighty angel come down 
from heaven, clothed with a cloud : and a rainbow was upon his 
head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars 
of fire : And he had in his hand a little book open : and he set 
his right foot upon the sea, and his left on the earth : And cried 
with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth, lifting up his hands to 
heaven, and swore by him that liveth forever and ever, who 
created heaven and earth, and the things that are therein, that 
there should be time no longer" If then, to digress a moment, 
there is a time to come, when time shall be no longer, will not 
that time be the end of time, — and consequently the end of the 
world ; which is the day of Judgment, so often alluded to in the 
Bible ; and cannot be the destruction of Jerusalem : because time 
did not come to an end at that time. Also, Rev. xx. 1,2: u And 
I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the 
bottomless pit, [bottomless, or endless, because there is the place 
of unending torments,] and a great chain in his hand : And he 
laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and 
Satan, and bound him (/See the Plate,) a thousand years, — du- 
ring which time will be the Millenium. See Eph. i. 21, for 
our final proof of the belief of the doctrine of a multitude of orders 
and degrees among the angels of heaven. In that place, the 
writer, who was St. Paul, speaks of the exaltation of the Son of 
Man, after his resurrection, and says that he was set " far above 
all principalities, power, might and dominion, and every name 
tin at is named, not only in this world, but also that which is to 
come." By which we learn, that there are names designating 
powers, principalities, and dominions, as well in a world of 
spirits, as in this ; which we think, proves the belief of the great 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 91 

amount of intellectual variety among the angels of God, as at 
first created; notwithstanding, many, if not all Universalists, 
deny angelic existences, as mentioned in the Scriptures, the 
same as did the Saducees, in the time of Christ; the Deists of 
that age ; and the most opposed to the introduction of true Chris- 
tianity : the same as all Universalists, in every age, have been 
guilty of, like their true brethren above named : and will ever 
be, till they renounce their opinions as a people. 

We cannot however, condemn every one of this opinion, as 
Deists ; because there are some of that order, who appear to be 
in reality converted persons, and talk about religion, and the Sa- 
viour, the same as the other sects ; but such talk, and such con- 
version, never arose out of the true Universalist opinions ; as 
those opinions deny spiritual conversion, the Deity of Christ, 
his expiatory death, the real fall of Adam, the existence of abso- 
lute sin, or moral evil ; which to deny, is to deny the whole 
essence of Christianity, the new birth and all. 



The Subject of Spiritual and Angelic Existence, further 
examined : to ascertain whether the Accounts of such Be- 
. ings, as found in the Bible, signify Men or Spirits. 

This we think proper to do, before we come to the main point ; 
the cause of the being of Satan— as an evil being. 

Many Universalists, as we before have noticed, deny that the 
Scriptures, by the word angel, means any thing more or less than 
men ; as prophets, apostles, evangelists, and ministers of reli- 
gion, or messengers of good or ill. But why do they deny this ? 
Because, if they admit the existence of good angels, they, of 
necessity^ must admit the existence of evil angels, such as St. 
Jude speaks of. who kept not their first estate, but were cast down 
to hell ; and this would be to admit at once that there is a Satan, 
and devils, and also a hell — as is believed by other sects of Chris- 
tians; therefore, their existence must be denied totally,- — and 
accordingly is, by all who are thorough in that creed. Angels 
are almost everywhere spoken of. in both the Old and New Tes- 
tament: commencing as early in time as Abraham, and ending 
but with St. John, the Revelator : under such circumstances as 
precludes the possibility of their having been men, in any view 
of the subject. 

Let such as deny the being of spirits, called angels, examine 
the quotations we have already made in proof of a variety of 
orders among the angels, and those we are now about to make ; 
but especially the whole of chapters 17, 18, and 19, of Genesis, 
the story of which is as follows. When Abraham was ninety- 



92 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

nine years old, the Lord appeared to him in the form of a man. 
had said " I am the Almighty God ;" when he instructed Abra- 
anm relative to circumcision, and of the coming of the Messiah. 
And when he left off talking with him, God went ascending from 
his sight, up toward heaven, maintaining to the last glimpse, the 
form of a man. Gen. xvii. 22. 

But at another time — which, however, was soon after this first 
appearance — the Almighty appeared to Abraham again, and in 
the form of a man : with two of his angels with him, having also 
the same form. Gen. xviii. 1, 2 : " And the Lord appeared unto 
him in the plains of Mamre : and he sat in the tent-door in the 
heat of the day : And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, 
three men stood by him." It would seem that these three men 
had not been discovered in their approach, but had suddenly 
made themselves visible from a previous invisible state ; or it 
could not well have been stated by Moses, that those three men 
stood by Abraham, without also mentioning that their approach 
had been noticed by him, if they were nothing more than ordi- 
nary men. But notwithstanding this sudden appearance, Abra- 
ham, it seems, did not know that his guests were from heaven, 
for he made haste, from the goodness of his heart, to prepare 
them food, and after they had seemed to eat, he arose and went 
on a while with them, toward the vale of Sodom — whither they 
were going ; but ere he parted from them — by some means, not 
recorded — he found out that the Lord of Hosts, with two of his 
holy angels, had been his visitors, and that they were come forth 
to destroy by fire, the five cities of the vale of Sodom. At this 
time the noted plea for marcy, made by Abraham to the Lord, for 
these devoted cities, took place ; after which, it is said, the Lord 
went his way. Now if Abraham had been a Universalist — as 
that people claim he was, as also all the prophets — where was 
the propriety of his plea of mercy, for the mere lives of the So- 
domites — seeing they were so exceedingly wicked, as to have 
become a nuisance on the face of the earth — when he must have 
known that their death would be their eternal reformation and 
happiness in another world. 

In the 19th chapter of Genesis, is found an account of two 
angels rescuing Lot and his two daughters from ruin. But the 
proof that those two strangers whom it appears Lot — from the 
hospitableness of his disposition, rescued from being lodgers in 
the street, were angels, or supernatural beings, is : that as the 
wicked men of Sodom beset the house of righteous Lot, they, 
the angels, struck them with blindness ; such power, we believe, 
is not conferred on mortals, so as to inflict blindness, or any other 
disorder, by invisible means. 

After this, some twenty five years had rolled away, when Isaac 
tke ?o a of Abraham, had grown to man's estate; the Lord, it 
arp jars, required the sacrifice of this son to try the fealty of 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 95 

Abraham's heart to God. But as he did not hesitate to do even 
this, nor delay by standing to reason the case in his own mind, 
and was about to deal the blow of death ; there suddenly was 
heard the cry of an angel's voice, in the air above him, there on 
the wild and spiry summit of Mount Moriah, saying, Abraham, 
Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do any thing 
unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou 
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. Now the 
proof that this angel was not a man, but a spirit, is, that Moses 
states, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven, 
(See the Plate,) the atmosphere above, a place where men do not 
often appear. Gen. xxii. 11, 12. How it is that Universalists can 
deny the existence of supernatural angelic beings — as many of 
them do, and contend that the Scriptures do not justify the belief, 
and at the same time are acquainted with accounts those books 
give of such beings, is to us an unaccountable problem — if they 
credit the Bible at all. Among a multitude of such facts, the fol- 
lowing is not one of the least notable, that go to prove the be- 
lief true : see 2d Kings, chap, vi., verses 8 to 23 inclusive, in 
which a most interesting and extraordinary account of the kind 
is given in the case of a Syrian king and his army, who were 
making war upon one of the kings of Israel. In this account, it 
is stated, that there was a prophet — namely, Elisha — who in- 
formed the king of Israel several times of certain snares and 
ambushes, which the Syrian king had contrived — by which his 
capture was intended — and that on this account, he escaped. 
This was a matter of wonder to the Syrian monarch, and led 
him to suspect there were traitors in his own army, to his cause. 
But this was indignantly contradicted by his officers, who stated 
that the prophet Elisha informed the king of Israel of all that he 
did, even of the very words he uttered in his bed chamber. On 
this account, the Syrian king became determined to take him 
prisoner. Accordingly he despatched a small army to a place 
called Dothan — where Elisha then was — which place they 
entirely surrounded, under cover of night. This circumstance, 
it appears, was unknown to the prophet, until his servant Gehiza, 
who had risen very early in the morning, and having gone out 
of the house, saw the place entirely invested by men in arms, 
and by horsemen and chariots, a great multitude. This circum- 
stance greatly frightened the young man, for he now ran in to 
his master, crying " alas master how shall we do? The proph- 
et, however, was perfectly cool, notwithstanding this alarming in- 
telligence,<and said to his servant, "fear not, for they that be with 
us are more than they that be with them" — when he lifting his 
hands to heaven said, « O Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that 
he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; 
and he saw, and behold the mountains were full of horses and 
chariots of fire round about Elisha." These were the angels of 



96 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

/ 

God invisible beings, or the eyes of the servant need not to have 
been opened, in order for him to have seen them. From this it 
appears that we are in all probability always surrounded by 
beings of this description, the messengers of the Almighty, whose 
habitations are throughout the whole universe of God, who see 
and know all that is passing in any and all the worlds of space. 

Another notable instance of angelic interference is found in 
Luke, xxii. 43, in the case of our Lord's agony in the garden of 
Gethsemane, where it is said, " and there appeared an angel unto 
him from heaven, strengthening him," as his agony at that point 
was even greater than on the cross, in which human nature, 
even as possessed by the Son of God, was found inadequate to 
bear, without submitting to death too soon to fulfill the prophe- 
cies of his crucifiction by wicked hands. This angel who thus 
strengthened him, is shown not to have been a man, as he is 
called an angel from heaven, and there is no such place on earth 
that we have heard of; besides, what man was he who was able 
to give support to the mental agonies of the soul of Jesus Christ, 
when by suffering he made atonement for the world. 

Cornelius, a Gentile of Cesarea, and a military officer of the 
Roman army, saw at a certain time in a vision, not while in 
sleep, but in the day time, about the ninth hour, an angel of God : 
" and when he looked on him he was afraid, and said what is it 
Lord V* Now if this had been a mere man, would this Roman 
officer have been afraid, and called him Elohim, the Lord or 
Most High ? no, not even if it had been in a dream — as a dream 
under the direction or influence of inspiration, could never have 
thus proceeded, if not true in every sense of the word. 

But in Acts, 12th chap, there is an account of this kind far 
more remarkable than the one last above related. This is res- 
pecting St. Peter, who having been put in prison by the Jewish 
rulers, on acconntof his being a Christian, was bound therewith 
two chains, and placed during the night season, between two 
soldiers, who slept on each side of him, as a guard against his 
escape. From this situation Peter was released by an angel of 
God ; the facts of which we will give in detail, as found in the 
book of Acts, as follows : " Peter therefore was kept in prison, 
but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God 
for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the 
same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with 
two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. 
And behold the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light 
shined in the prison, ahd he smote (touched) Peter on the side 
and raised him up saying, arise quickly, and his chains fell off 
his hands. And the angel said unto him, gird thyself, and bind 
on thy sandals, and so he did. And he saith unto him, cast thy 
garment about thee and follow me. And he went out and fol- 
lowed him : and wist not that it was true which was done by 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 97 

the angel , but thought he saw a vision. "When they were past 
the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that 
leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of its own accord, 
and they went out, and passed on through one street, and forth- 
with the angel departed from him." 

But says an objector, all this may have been done by some 
friend to Peter, who had by cunning, given the sentry at the 
door, and the two soldies who slept by his side, some sleeping 
potion, and having procured a key, not only to the prison doors, 
but to the outer gate of the city, and the chain which manacled 
him, went in and released him as they slept, and all this done in 
answer to prayer ; and the person so doing was an angel or 
messenger of God to Peter, but was no spirit of another world ! 

But that this angel was a man could not have been the fact, 
as it is stated in the account, that the outer gate of the city open- 
ed of itself that is, without a key, or any visible means ; and 
certainly St. Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, could not be 
guilty of telling an untruth in this matter, or have been deceived, 
as he was an inspired writer, in the matters of the New Testa- 
ment, at any rate. St. Peter's opinion of the matter was, that 
the Lord had sent his angel; for he said, u noio I know of a 
surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered 
me out of the hand of Herod" — which thing St. Peter could 
never have said, if he knew that some friend had so delivered him 
and afterwards informed him of it, as such a friend most certain- 
ly would have done. 

The case of St. Paul is another proof of angelic existence, of a 
supernatural character, of which he speaks as experienced by 
himself on board the ship, in the Adriatic sea : who says, " For 
there stood by me this night, the angel of the Lord, whose I 
am, and whom I serve, saying, fear not Paul ; thou must be 
brought before Ccesar : and lo, God hath given thee all them 
that sail with thee. Wherefore sirs be of Good cheer, for I 
believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." By 
which he informs us that his information was from heaven, and 
therefore the messenger, which was an angel, was also from hea- 
ven, who had stood by St. Paul that night, and told him such 
things. 

The New Testament is almost a continued history of super- 
natural occurrences, and of supernatural angels, both good and 
bad, as we shall show before we close the volume : yet there are 
those who deny everything of the kind, and at the same time 
profess to believe the Scriptures, and to build their Christian be- 
lief from its pages; but how far are such persons from real 
Christianity in their faith. 

See Matthew xxviii. 2, 3, 4, where there is a most convincing- 
instance of supernatural operation related, as connected with the 
resurrection of our Lord's crucified body, done by an angel, of a 



98 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

supernatural character and origin. " Behold, there was a great 
earthquake ; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, 
and came and rolled back the stone from the door (of the cave) 
and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his 
raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers (the Ro- 
man guard) did shake and become as dead men.*' This could 
not have been a man, as men do not have countenances like 
lightning, nor do they descend from heaven, nor cause earth- 
quakes, nor have power ro frighten, (one alone) a whole band of 
fierce and armed soldiers, so as to cause them to become as dead 
men, by their mere looks, as was the fact in this case. 

See Judges, chap. xiii. where there is an account of an angel 
of God who foretold the birth of Samson, his manner of life, &c. 
and then, in the sight of Manpah and his wife, ascended from the 
the face of the rock, in the flame of the sacrifice, which they of- 
fered there to the Lord, of which angel it is there said, that he did 
wondrously, by which no doubt is meant his going up in the 
flame, to a considerable height, (See the Plate) and the vanish- 
ing out sight. Which occurrence greatly frightened Manoah, 
the same man who was afterwards the father of Samson, the 
strongest, as well as the most foolish fellow that ever judged a 
people. 

Of this angel, as seen by Manoah, it is said in the account gi- 
ven in Judges, that his countenance was not as that of a man, 
though having the lineaments; yet was of a superior cast. 
Mark the words of inspiration : " His countenance was like the 
countenance of an angel of God, very terrible" or glorious to 
look upon, which could not have been said of a mere man : and 
that he went up in the flame of the sacrifice, toward the heavens, 
proves beyond all contradiction that this angel was not a mortal 
man ; as the thing could not possibly have been performed by the 
natural ability of any one of the race. 

We have now a most interesting account to give, as much so 
perhaps as any in the whole Scriptures, by which not only the 
existence of supernatural angels is corroborated, but the doc- 
trine of a variety of orders among the angelic hosts proven, as 
before attempted to be done, as well also as the existence of evil 
angels, and their respective influence on the minds of men. 

See Daniel, chap. x. in the course of which we read, that the 
prophet stood by the river Hidekel, or as it is now termed the 
Arazares. He saw a glorious being who appeared to be clothed 
" in linen, and his loins girded with fine gold of Uphaz, (or of 
Ophir) his body also was like the beryl, (a pellucid gem of a 
blueish-green color) and his face as the appearance of lightning, 
and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in 
color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice 
of a multitude." With this angel Daniel conversed respecting 
many things which were to come to pass in after ages ; wonder- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 101 

fully describing the rise and fall of various great empires, and of 
the care himself and Michael the archangel had over the desti- 
nies of the Jews. He told him also that from the day Daniel set 
his heart to understand and to chasten himself, (not by flagella- 
tions with a whip, &c. as some fanatics or deceivers have done,) 
before God, that he had desired to come to him, and to instruct 
him in a knowledge of future events; but that the 'prince of the 
kingdom of Persia, withstood him from doing so, one and twen- 
ty days ; but lo Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help 
him. 

We wish to notice in particular in this place one expression, as 
pertinent to the idea of different orders of angels, and this is it — 
" lo Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me." By 
which we understand that as Michael was one of those chief 
princes among the angelic orders, that there are also other prin- 
ces, or it could not have been said with propriety that he was 
one of them. From which account it appears that we here as- 
certain certainly three different orders of being ; first, the glori- 
ous angel, who is particularly described above, and who con- 
versed with Daniel : and second, Michael the archangel, who 
came to help him against the prince of Persia, an evil angel, who 
opposed the interests of the Jews in the mind of Cyrus : and an- 
other angel who is denominated the prince of Grecia, who was 
to come as soon as this glorious angel, who had communed with 
Daniel, had gone forth from him. 

But why did this evil angel, called the prince of Persia, op- 
pose himself to those other angels, who were favorable to the 
interests of the Jews ? (For this was the case ; as appears by the 
statement of the angel who had conversed with Daniel, who said 
to him, at last, when he had caused him to know, and to under- 
stand fully, why he had visited him, that he would then return to 
fight with this prince of Persia,) because it is likely he knew that 
if the Jewish nations could by any means be prevented rebuild- 
ing their ruined city walls and temple, and restoring their religion, 
with all its typical observances and moral influence, which had 
ceased during their captivity at Babylon ; that this people with 
their religion, would be entirely lost among the pagan nations. 
By this means, he hoped to prevent the coming of the Messiah 
into the world; and therefore fought against all impressions 
made on the mind of Cyrus, the monarch of the Persians, by 
Michael, Gabriel and other spiritual beings, who favored the 
Jews in the holy enterprise. And this is what is meant, when it 
is said that the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood the 
glorious angel one and twenty days, which was exactly the num- 
ber of days which Daniel prayed and chastened himself — and 
what was also meant by his saying, " and now will I return to 
fight with the prince of Persia." It will not do to say, in order 
to get rid of the being of those spirits, that this prince of Persia 



102 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

was Cyrus, because he was then favorable to the restoration of 
the Jews and their religion, and had given orders exceedingly- 
strict and broad, about the rebuilding of the walls of the city, 
temple, &c. This glorious angel therefore, who said he would 
return from Daniel to fight with the prince of Persia, was a spir- 
it, and meant that he would go and counteract the impressions 
of this evil spirit on the mind of Cyrus and his people, lest the 
Jews and their works should be defeated. (iS*ee the Plate.) Can 
this account mean anything else ? if it does, we do not perceive it. 

But who was this Michael, called one of the chief princes, who 
aided the glorious angel in his labors for the Jews ; was he of 
earth, a mere man, or of heaven, a spiritual being? St. Jude set- 
tles this question, who says, "Michael the arch angel ; who con- 
tended with the devil about the body of Moses," which shows 
him to have been a supernatural being or he could not have thus 
contended in an unseen manner ; for if Michael and this being 
called the devil, were mere men, and contended respecting what 
should be done with the body of that great Jewish legislator ; 
the Jews would have known this, and the place of his burial 
would have been known also, which the Scripture says, is un- 
known, and that the Lord buried him. See Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6. 
John the Revelator, corroborates St. Jude in this thing. See 
chapter xii. 7, who speaks of him (Michael) as being at the head 
of those angels who kept their first estate ; who stood fast 
during their probation, or trial : and that he, with his angels 
fought against the dragon and his angels, even in heaven : who 
were cast out ; of which we shall more fully treat, by and by. 

But in Hebrews, ii. 6, 7, there is an account, which places 
this subject beyond controversy, as both the natures of men and 
angels are there distinguished, and spoken of, allowing one to be 
superior to the other ; as follows : " What is man that thou art 
mindful of him ? or the Son of man, that thou visiteth him ? 
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels : thou crown- 
edst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works 
of thy hands." The term man, as above used, stands for the 
whole species. But if the beings, called angels — mentioned in 
the passage — are said to be above the race of man — which is 
implied, when it is said that " man was made a little lower than 
the angels," — then the two kinds of beings are distinct from each 
other, in their very natures ; so that the opinion as held by 
many Universalists, — namely : that the term angels, as used in 
the Scriptures, is always restricted to, and signifies men, messen- 
gers of men, and no more : falls to the ground, from the force of 
that one passage in Hebrews, while it is corroborated by many 
others, and the whole sense of the whole Bible, on that subject. 
The words of Christ himself prove this doctrine, beyond all 
possible contradiction. See Matthew xxvi. 53, where the ac- 
count of his apprehension in the garden of Gethsemane is given : 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 103 

who when the Jews as guided by Judas came rushing upon him. 
Peter would have defended him with a sword, when he said, 
that he could pray to his father and he would send him more 
than twelve legions of angels to defend him from the Jews and 
all his enemies. 

Now how many in number would twelve legions amount to 1 
This is answered by ascertaining what was meant by one legion. 
The term legion was a word signifying 6000 soldiers in the Ro- 
man armies at that time. This number multiplied by twelve 
amounts to seventy-two thousands. Now if the Universalist in- 
terpretation of the word angel is to be relied on, as restricted by 
them to answer their purpose, who say that it signifies nothing 
more than men who are messengers either of God, kings, or 
assemblies of men — then it follows that at that very time, Christ 
could have commanded an army of at least seventy two thou- 
sand men from among the multitude of the Jews, Romans, and 
other people then in Judea, which would at once argue him a 
great military captain, and standing at the head of an immense 
banditti in the very heart of the country. This would contra- 
dict his own words in another place ; see John xviii. 36. " Jesus 
answered, my kingdom is not of this world ; if my kingdom were 
of this world, then would myservants^^A^, that I should not be 
delivered to the Jews." 

But if the word is restricted wholly to ministers of religion, as 
Universalists generally contend, then it follows that Christ told a 
lie ; for at that very time all the Jewish ministers of their religion, 
together with the very few of the Christian system, did not 
amount to one fourth part of that number. But if it be still re- 
stricted to ministers of the Christian system, as then but just 
commenced ; then the words more than twelve legions, are al- 
most without any meaning at all, or a lie is told of the most ri- 
diculous character — even exceeding the tales of the Arabian 
Nights; as it is impossible to make" out over one hundred and 
fifty one, including both seventies— companies of disciples sent 
out by the Saviour, together with the eleven who were always 
with him. 

It appears therefore that the twelve legions of angels alluded 
to by the Saviour, were not men of the earth, but were of the 
hosts of heaven, altc gather of a supernatural character, not be- 
longing to the earth. 

But now, if the reader believes that we have in the preceding 
pages, on this subject, established— first : that angels — such as 
we have £iven an account of— were spirits of a supernatural 
description ; and — second : that their numbers are innumerable ; 
and — third: were created in various orders, or degrees of intel- 
lectual difference ; we are now prepared to investigate more im^ 
mediately the origin of sin and cause of the being of Satan and 
his subordinate devils, or fallen angels. 



104 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



Accounts of the Voyages of the first Angels far into Space be- 
fore any thing was created but themselves, and the Mode of 
their Trial, Nature of Mind, $*c. 

In pursuance therefore of the above subject, we will remind 
the reader that some twenty pages above, we have supposed that 
the first angelic beings were left in their incipient state, to con- 
jecture about the mystery of their being; and that various and 
conflicting opinions on that subject, must have arisen among 
them : and however greatly any number of them may have ex- 
celled their fellows in their powers of mind, yet that circumstance 
gave no advantage in penetrating this mystery, because as yet 
there had been no clue, no revelation on the subject afforded 
them. 

But in proportion, it may be supposed, to the amount of intel- 
lectual subtilty possessed by any finite unfallen being, there is 
always manifested a corresponding activity in the business of 
research, in relation to such matters as occupy their powers ; on 
which account there can be but little doubt, that after all was 
known, that could be known in their congregated condition, in 
heaven ; that they instituted among themselves a systematic 
mode of exploring other tracts of space, than the one immediately 
comprehending their location. Bat whither could they go ? to 
what region could these primeval troops direct their course ? as 
on all hands, and in every point of heaven's compass, darkness 
reigned in the awful distance. There was no light, blackness 
deep and wide as immensity itself, reigned through boundless 
space. There were no sounds, no voice of any creature had 
broken the hitherto eternal silence. There was no heat, nor 
cold, icet nor dry, all was a boundless, blank eternity. There 
were no suns nor moons, stars nor constellations, no winds mov- 
ing through empty space, no light had shed a ray on the inter- 
minable vacuum, except that of the home of the angels, where 
they then were, which was light itself. There was no ocean's 
roar, no tide waters rocked as now, in the hollow of the seas, the 
cradle of the floods ; no billows dashing against mountains, nor 
on the sands and stony shores of continents; no rivers, nor 
streams, nor fountains of waters; no forests, herbage, fishes, 
fowls, nor animal life of any kind, all was void, deep and fathom- 
less nonentity. 

But notwithstanding this, and though no rumor of distant 
regions had reached their ear ; yet, in bands and cohorts, they 
became resolved to navigate this ocean in straight lines, starting 
out from their heaven as their centre, and continuing their res- 
pective courses, till they should wish to return ; when observing 
the same rule, it could but bring them back to the same point, 
and prevent their being forever lost in the wastes of boundless 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 107 

space. Heaven's inhabitants now having arranged themselves, 
such as were of the number of the adventurers, soared aloft, for 
every point of the compass from thatjirst centre, was up, though 
opposite directions were pursued, they were nevertheless per- 
pendicular ones. (See the plate.) 

This is shown, by supposing ourselves on the sun, which is the 
centre of our planetary system ; any direction from the sun is a 
perpendicular direction, as the sun by necessity is the loxoest point 
in the solar system. Heaven, therefore, if in the centre of the 
great and increasing universe of God, is also the lowest point (re- 
latively speaking) in wide creation ; from which it follows that 
any direction therefrom is a perpendicular direction. Although 
in this sense, heaven is the lowest point in the universe ; yet in 
moral excellence it is the highest, for it is God's throne — loca- 
tion, oi v mere position, adds no excellence to any being or place, 
it is moral character that does this. On this account it is, that 
God is said to look doion from heaven upon the works of his 
hands. 

It was impossible for those voyaging angels to arrange how 
long should be their journey, as there then existed no rule by 
which time or distance could be measured ; as day and night, 
arising from the revolutions of globes, and systems of matter, did 
not then exist, as signs and guides in this respect. Eternity had 
not yet erected her time piece, by which she is cut up into ages, 
periods, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds ; 
their own feelings, as to the time of return, was their only guide. 

Now heaven was bereft in part, of its people, as the journey- 
ing millions shot off in all directions of heaven's compass, like 
flashes of fire from a nucleus of light, in search of they knew not 
what, as they could form no idea of things, or of beings, of 
which they had not heard or seen ; yet their spirit of activity 
may be supposed thus to have exerted itself But how far these 
exploring angels penetrated the heights of boundless space, none 
can tell ; yet perhaps even further than where now exists the 
utmost bounds of creation ; where the outermost circles of sys- 
tems of worlds look off into the yet boundless and yet unexplored 
abyss of eternity, save by onmiscence itself; but without having 
made one discovery, except that there was no £nd to nonentity, 
which was the universal report, on the return of each cohort, 
shouting as they descended, there is nothing, nothing, beside 
ourselves and this our place of dwelling. 

But on account of this void condition of space, are we to sup. 
pose the angels were in the least unhappy, or discontented ? not 
at all ; for this one reason : it is not possible that a thought of the 
existence of what is now called matter, as distinguished by tangi- 
bility, could have entered their minds, nor ever would have done 
eo, had not he who created them, at such times as seemed 
good to himself, have created also the universe, consisting of 



108 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

matter, variously modified and mingled with spirit, and furnish- 
ing occupancy and ground of improvement, to intellectual beings. 
Is it possible for the most cultivated of the race of man, to think 
of, or to invent, any substance different from what he has seen, 
iieard of, and known to exist, or to add a single first principle to 
the great machine of nature, that could be of any use : as is den- 
sity, divisibility, gravity or attraction, repulsion, color, heat, cold, 
wet, dry, light, darkness, sensation, nutrition, sound, &c. ? it is 
impossible ; we. can conceive of no possible useful addition of any 
first principle. Neither could the angels have done this, more 
than to have been creators ; they were not capable of invention 
to any such extent as to be able to make improvements on their 
own nature ; and never could have had any further ideas of any 
thing beside their own condition, and their associate circum- 
stances, had not the Divine Being have produced a tangible 
state of things, and presented it to them, which, when done, was 
a revelation, known and read of all. 

Man knows nothing, absolutely nothing, in and of himself ; he 
cannot originate one single idea without help, without a revela- 
tion of some kind as a starting point. What, therefore, is the 
mind of man ? we cannot tell ; yet we may say it is a being, a 
creation of something, capable of improvement almost to infinity, 
yet, without knowledge, or even thought, till revelation comes 
to its rescue, and one species of revelation is nature as now de- 
veloped, with all its first principles. That instant the mind 
shoots off with amazing velocity, in its course of improvement, 
outstripping even the winds and the lightnings, in its pursuits of 
knoweldge, bounded only by boundless existence. That such 
is the vague and blank character of mind in the abstract, before 
it feels the genial rays of revelation, is shown from the history of 
the late mysterious German boy Casper Hauser ; who it seems, 
for reasons yet unknown, was shut up in a place so small as not 
to allow him even from infancy to the age of about sixteen years, 
room to stand up in, but always sitting flat on the floor, with his 
legs extended out before him. During that whole time he had 
never seen light, either of the sun nor any other kind, nor heard 
the voice of man, nor seen his shape, nor the shape of anything 
else, till a little before his release from prison. On his first being 
ushered into light, and left to his own way, he seemed to hear, 
without knowing what it was, to see, without perceiving or know- 
ing it was sight, and to move his feet and limbs, without knowing 
their use — although so old — nor ever could have known, had he 
not been released from captivity. His language consisted only 
of tears, and moans, and strange inward sounds, though soon 
after his release from prison he seemed to have invented two 
words, which rushed out spontaneously. For man, the word 
Bua, whether to male or female, old or young, was indiscrimi- 
nately applied ; for all other things, whether applied to animals, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 109 

trees, the clouds, or whatever struck his attention, the word Roff, 
was used. After he had received in part an education, he could 
not recollect anything of himself, except that after waking from 
sleep, there was always bread and water by his side ; articles 
which he afterwards learned to distinguish by those names. 
But to prove that his mind was totally vacant, and without any 
ideas, and would always have remained thus, if he had not been 
released ; it is said of him that he never dreamed anything, till 
after his enlargement and acquaintance with things. For a 
particular account in detail of this singular affair, and of the 
death of the lad, see Penny Magazine, part 23, No. 118, 1834. 
Such is the mind of man, till the light of circumstances and 
association is poured upon it, when it rouses into strength and 
activity, seizes upon surrounding circumstances, with all its per- 
ception, which progress on from sight, touch and taste, to com- 
parison, and from thence to knowledge and understanding; 
displayed in arrangement without end. In some such predica- 
ment, we may suppose, the angels were created, and that the 
greatness of their minds, over and above what man is found to 
possess, did not consist at first, so much in a knowledge of a 
multitude of things, as in their capability to receive, to improve, 
to understand, and to enjoy more abundantly, when the Creator 
should call their capacities into a more spacious field of labor, 
and investigation. On which account, it is said in Scripture, 
that the angels excel in strength ; which strength, we understand 
to be wholly of an intellectual description. And that man was 
made a little lower than the angels — that is : with less power of 
mental and moral improvement — in this state of things ; while 
the angels were created higher in that respect, in their first out- 
set of existence, inculcates the same opinion. 

We may therefore call this state of the angels — before the 
Creator revealed himself to them, either by appearance or by 
works — their incipient, or commencing condition, and preceded 
the beginning of their state of trial, or probation. A state of trial, 
or probation, was not instituted toward Adam, except by revealed 
law : so as to mark out, and require the observance, and obed- 
ience to such law. Had our first parents have been left without 
a revealed law, with its penalty, they never could have passed 
through a probationary state, and consequently could never have 
been either praise or blame worthy, nor been placed in a situa- 
tion in which they could have evinced, by any act whatever, the 
native condition of their spirits : but would have been left in an 
Indifferent, insipid, and irresponsible state of being — forever 
precluded from opportunity of improvement, above any other 
animal of the globe, whose laws of appetite are mere instinct. 

But as it respects those first spirits, we believe it was somewhat 
different ; and that they were introduced to a knowledge of the 
important fact of the possession of moral free agency, and that 



1 LO HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

they had original power and ability to choose good or evil, 
without any intimation of penalties — as was man's case. The 
simple requirement of love and obedience toward the Creator, 
without naming penalties, was doubtless sufficient, and as much 
as could have been consistent in their case : because of their 
superior intellectual state above that of Adam and Eve. On this 
account therefore, it would have been proper, and doubtless was 
the fact, for the Divine Being to have kept them in ignorance 
of the consequences of delinquency, or of failure, so that their 
obedience should proceed solely from pure principle and love — 
free unassisted love, unmixed with dread, or allusion to penal- 
ties, or any such thing. 

Had the angels,, who kept not their first estate, have known 
that to sin, or to become opposed to the commands of Ilim who 
claimed to be their Creator, would inevitably plunge them into 
irretrievable damnation — which damnation would consist in the 
change and entire obliteration of their characters, as virtuous 
and holy beings : as well as added thereto, there should follow a 
ceaseless state of penal tormenting suffering — they never would 
have sinned from pure selfishness. On such a base as this, we 
may easily perceive, that holiness and true virtue, could not sub- 
sist ; as that which they would have done under such circum- 
stances, would have been far enough from being the result of 
pure principle and love to God, or love of righteousness, for 
righteousness sake — but of selfishness. 

But before it could have been possible for them to have begun 
to form their characters, it was necessary for them to receive law 
from a competent source ; but that law must have been without 
a promise of reward, or threat of punishment : so that a free and 
perfect exhibition of what they would do, as the creatures of 
God, might appear as well to themselves, as to the Divine Being. 
This course would greatly enhance their happiness, when they 
should come to know how dreadful a thing it is to sin against 
God: as their reflections would be, that they had acted from 
pure principle, unbiased by promise of reward, or threat of pun- 
ishment. 

But in Adam's case it was not improper, nor inconsistent to 
make the law of obedience, in relation to penally and reward ; 
because his grade of intellectual being, was of a lower order than 
the angels, that it might exert its influence on his mind, by pro- 
ducing fear. He was therefore placed in the neighborhood of 
solicitude to obey, not only from a desire to please God, in his 
love of virtue from pure principle, but also to avoid death — the 
amount and nature of which, he no doubt well understood — or 
it could have been of no force or influence on his mind, nor that 
of his companion : and of course of no moral use. Under such 
a view of the case, it is natural to enquire — how is it that the 
angels cannot be supposed to have been under a law which 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. Ill 

threatened punishment and promised rewards, without incurring 
to themselves, the character of acting on selfish principles : 
while at the same time we argue that Adam and Eve could act 
under such a law, and yet go clear of this charge 9 The solu- 
tion consists simply in the difference between the natures and 
moral abilities of the two sorts of beings ; so that it was an equal 
administration in God to make this difference ; and yet the 
actions of each go clear of the baleful charge of unrighteous sel- 
fishness ; as pure obedience, after all, under both conditions, 
was all that was required. 

Bat if the position still appears paradoxical, we will illustrate 
it by the following simile : — A child obeys its father when it is 
commanded and enforced by threat or promise ; as without such 
command, it knows not what to do. But a man being higher in 
intellectual improvement, will obey from his own knowledge of 
what his father wishes to have done, without this threat and 
promise ; both having the character of unalienated children — 
so in the case of Adam and the angels. 

In relation to the angels, it appears to us of momentous pro 
priety that they should have been left awhile purely to them- 
selves, without any law, or any knowledge of a Creator, as that 
from such a condition, a preparation to receive law, and com- 
mand, could be produced, which would arise from the various 
conclusions on any and all subjects within the reach of their 
condition, yet without sin : as to disagree^ sentimentally and vir- 
tuously, implies no moral or depraved defect in their being, or 
constitution of spirit. But the Divine Being intended soon to re- 
veal himself, and to give them a standard of action, as a guide 
to their various and exalted powers, by claiming to himself su- 
preme authority and direction. 

Can it be supposed that the Divine Being could not have con- 
sistently withheld a knowledge of his own being from those first 
spirits, as long as to him might have seemed good ; by what ar- 
gument^does it appear, that of necessity he must immediately be 
known to beings whieh he has or may create ? None that we 
know of. If angels and men may know more and more of the 
Divine Being, the longer they exist, it follows that at first they 
must have known nothing at all, as there must have been a com- 
mencement of such knowledge, and previous to that commence- 
ment, were it but a moment, yet even a moment is a time, and 
gains the point, as a principle at least, of a condition whieh pre- 
ceded the lmowledge of law, by a direct revelation. 

But it is said by some, that in- the case of Adam there was a 
law, in his very nature, written on his heart, that required him 
to love God, and that this lata preceded the law of trial, respect- 
ing the forbidden tree. Had this been true, this law must have 
been inactive and without application, until it was known to 
Adam that there was a God to love, who, when he knew, he 



112 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

loved, from the very nature of himself ; not being then depraved 
as are his descendants at the present time, and are the natural 
enemies of God. 

But we disallow such a circumstance to be a law at all, other- 
wise than the nature of anything which has been created, whe- 
ther spirits or animals, or mere matter, may be said to consist 
after some mode, and that the mode of their consistency is the 
law of their natures. Were this so, there were no freedom of 
action, deviation from rectitude, in this way, is made impossible, 
as nature, or nature's principles, as produced by the Divine 
Power cannot and never did err. When we speak of anything 
which has been created, whether it is spirit or matter, it is com- 
mon to conceive that it consist after some fashion or manner ; 
but is it right to say that its fashion, or manner of consistency, is a 
law .1 By no means, as all that can be properly said on the sub- 
ject is that so and so is its nature and not its law. 

Though Adam and Eve, as well as angels, were created pure 
and good by the Divine Being, yet this cannot prove that such a 
circumstance shows them to have instantly, or as it were by in- 
tuition, known God, any more than any thing else could know 
and admire its Creator by intuition. 

Law forever supposes the possibility of violation ; but fixed 
principles in nature never go astray, because they have no free- 
dom of the kind, and cannot err, and are not therefore subject to 
moral law. If it be said the law was written on the heart of 
Adam and of angels at first, to love God, yet this does not prove 
that they instantly knew him ; but it proves they were capaci- 
tated to love him so soon as they should know him ; and how 
could they know him till he revealed or manifested himself in 
some manner or other as should please him. We therefore per- 
ceive no inconsistency in supposing that the angels were at first 
left awhile without revealed law, as well as Adam and Eve, who 
were certainly thus dealt with ; for he did not receive the law till 
some time after his creation ; not till Eve was created and both 
of them shown how to till and dress the garden : when, or soon 
thereafter, the l^w of Paradise was given them. On account of 
this delay, we are sure that Adam knew nothing either of God or 
his law till sometime after his creation ; during which time, his 
thoughts and the thoughts of Eve, were occupied with them- 
selves and the objects which were presented to their senses, as it 
was not possible that their thoughts could extend to any thing 
further till a further revelation should be given them. 

Such a procedure on the part of God, placed him in a consis- 
tent position to give law to the angels, (as well as to Adam and 
Eve,) and to receive their fealty and love, bringing all their vari- 
ous powers into an agreement with each other, and directing 
their energies toward himself, the centre of all moral happiness. 
It is announced of the Son of God, who was the creator of angels, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 113 

in the New Testament, that he is " meek and lowly in heart," on 
which account, to us, there appears an exceeding beauty and 
agreement with such a disposition of mind, shown in withhold- 
ing from the angels a knowledge of his existence, till such time 
as he should propose himself to them ; but in such a way and 
manner as should not astound them with the majesty of his glo- 
ry, and at the same time give evidence in a degree of the right 
of his claim, as being God over all ; inviting, not compelling 
their love, obedience and adoration. To us it appears a material 
point in the divine government, that he should not astound his 
subjects on trial, with an overwhelming amount of evidence in 
relation to any thing he may, or has required their acknowledg- 
ment of; but rather to give that quantum of evidence to their 
consideration which shall exactly harmonise with their degree of 
intelligence, liberty and free agency. Otherwise than this, there 
could be no trial, no probation, no matter of choice, whether they 
would accede or not ; free agency would be out of the question, 
as no room, under such circumstances, could be found for its ex- 
ercise, as the whole influence of such a procedure would be ab- 
solute compulsion. 

To illustrate this conclusion, we will suppose that at the time 
of our Saviour's advent among men, there had accompanied him 
at his birth myriads of the angels of heaven, who should have 
visibly encamped round about the city of Jerusalem, holding 
continual and intimate intercourse with all the citizens during 
the whole period of his sojourn among the Jews, who should 
have continually declared, this is your Messiah, this is he who 
was to come — the Messiah foretold by Moses and all the prophets 
— this is the seed of the woman who is to bruise the serpent's 
head — the Son of the Living God — the Messiah of your expecta- 
tion. Under such a state of evidence in relation to the identity 
of the Messiah, it could not be said that they had believed freely, 
and of their own minds, by comparing Scripture with his works 
and claims, and thus arrive at the conclusion, and thus consti- 
tute true faith. Would not such a course have been in the high- 
est degree compulsory ; so that the free exercise of free agency, 
in its untramelled purity, on that subject, would have been im- 
possible. Had our Lord compelled by such a course, as above 
described, or by any other irrisistible way, mankind to believe in 
him, would it have been consistent with man's free agency ? if so 
it would have been done. But as it was not consistent, it was 
not done. The mode of God's government, it seems, cannot ad- 
mit of such a procedure, as it would at once neutralise the high- 
est and most beautiful trait of the natures of both men and an- 
gels, which is their free agency, the very trait which distinguish- 
es them from all the other works of God, and furnishes intellec- 
tual moral existence with all its value. "Without this, both men 
and angels would be but mental machines without mental liberty, 



114 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

going round and round, exactly as acted upon, having no self- 
determining power ; not choosing or refusing any thing of them- 
selves, and would demonstrate that the Divine Being is the only 
free mental actor in the universe. If such were the case, how- 
ever great the errors of any of his creatures might be, such er- 
rors could not be treated as sin ; as their acts, their thoughts, 
and even their designs, and the spirit in which they performed 
them, would owe their origin, operations and strength to God, on 
account of the lack of free agency. On such a hypothesis the 
system of Christianity is not called for, as there can be nothing to 
be redeemed, unless we go about to show that He who acts upon 
all actors irresistibly, has so acted upon our race, that the results 
are ruinous and need repair, which idea is monstrous and absurd. 

But this is not the case, this cannot be ; free agency does exist 
in the minds of men and angels, and is the most beautiful trait 
of the operations of the Divine Hand that we are acquainted 
with ; which beautiful trait he regards with the most consummate 
delicacy, as he will not, and does not force it ; which if he did 
would at once nullify and render void the operation of his own 
creative wisdom as shown in the constitution of the very repre- 
sentatives of his own intellectual image, that of men and angels. 
Here then the awful secret, if secret it may be called, is announ- 
ced why men and some angels have fallen from their first estate ; 
which indeed appears impossible even for the Divine Being to 
have prevented, without his having first taken away and des- 
troyed this amazing power. If this had been done, it would 
have been the same as to uncreate in part, the most glorious of 
the operations of the hand of the Divine Being, and would have 
been confusion, which cannot be admitted. Here, in our esti- 
mation, turns the grand point of human or angelic accountability 
as it would appear to be beyond the consistent power, even of 
the Deity, to compel any of his intellectual creatures to the ob- 
servance of himself or laws ; as compulsion, in this department 
of his works, that of intellect, is not to be controlled by any cause 
whatever, whether by direct power, object, or any thing else ; 
were it not so, sin among men, could not take place any more 
than among the cattle of the mountains. And because Univer- 
salists do not believe in man's absolute free agency, is their rea- 
son for denying the existence of absolute moral evil or sin, and 
contend that sin is marely a relative evil, existing only between 
man and man, and upon the whole is for the best. 

May it not therefore be said, free agency is a dangerous quali- 
fication ; if so, we can only reply, that without it there can be 
neither man nor annals, as this qualification is essential to their 
very being as rational creatures ; without it there could be no 
divine moral govern n en t, adapted as now to the powers of free 
agents, the whole universe of rational conscious existences would 
be but a splendid machine, not a whit however, more splendid 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 115 

or more to be admired than any and all the other grades of ani- 
mated nature. Without it, the whole system of accountability, 
as taught by Christianity, falls to the ground ; vice as vice, and 
virtue as virtue are extinct ; even the idea of a God, as the go- 
vernor of intellectual beings, seems not called for, and if not called 
for, goes far in support of the most horrid of ajl ideas, which is 
Atheism. 

That the whole moral and natural universe of God, and his 
administration of law, or government over them, is but a great 
and multiform machine, which never has, nor never can move 
wrong, and that all and singular, from the greatest to the small- 
est transaction, whether it is the efforts of the most exalted mind, 
which God has made, or the accidental movement of the least 
particle of matter in creation ; is comprehended in the move- 
ments of this machine : is believed and contended for by the 
most refined and best instructed Universalists of the age. If this 
were true, we do not wonder that they have come to the conclu- 
sion that there is not in existence, nor ever can be absolute moral 
evil, or sin. Hence they teach that sin, relatively so called, is 
not upon the whole, amoral evil, but a good : and was so intend- 
ed by the Creator. On this view they 'deny the fall of man — 
as held by the orthodox sects ; and of necessity, they also deny 
an expiatory atonement, made toward God in the death of Jesus 
Christ, for the sins of the world ; upon the heels of which, spir- 
itual regeneration, by them is taught to be of no importance, or 
a matter of mere fancy. Were this the true state of the case, 
we cannot perceive how sin exists at all ; as that which is best 
upon the whole, is also best in all its parts : and he who teaches 
that sin exists under stick circumstances, publishes a libel on the 
operation of God's great machine — destroys the possibility of 
free agency, or of human responsibility, either to God, or to one 
another. For if whatever we do or think, is but the moving on 
of this great machine — as God has designed — then who is he 
that has erred since the world began, in thought, word, or deed. 
Though men behave never so absurdly, and abominably toward 
each other, yet this is known of God, as the very thing he wished 
should be effected by his machine, with a view to the good of the 
great whole ; where then is there room to find fault, or for the 
existence of relative sin, or moral evil ? we declare without fear 
of being refuted — that there is none ; as the whole operation of 
universal nature, both in physics and morals, is resolved into the 
horrid idea of fate : which destroys the idea of a God governing 
a universe of intellectual beings, according to character ; and 
would be equally well governed, without any God at all ; as fate 
cannot err, having in its nature no optional powers whatever. 
There is nothing in existence which has been created, that may 
not be said to be an agent : and is either a free agent, or a ma- 
chine agent. All matter } belongs to the class which may be 



116 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

denominated, machine agents ; — all spirits, which are intellec- 
tual and rational, belong to the class of free agents. But it is 
impossible to constitute a free rational agent, so as to empower it 
to do morally right, without the accompanying qualification of a 
power to do morally wrong ; and one is as free as the other ; 
otherwise the thing itself cannot be. The idea of intellectual 
free agency, cannot be separated from the idea of reason and 
will ; powers which agree together, in making out a free agent : 
but are not required in making out a machine agent. 

To deny therefore, that there is any such qualification belong- 
ing to men or angels, as free agency — which is the power of 
choice between objects — is to say that the Divine Being cannot, 
or has not ascended in the exercise of his power and wisdom, 
above the production of mere brutes, which are not capable of 
moral good or evil, and shamefully retrenches the unlimited 
ability of God, in the consistent exercise of his power. It is 
well written by the Rev. Timothy Merritt, in his Strictures on 
Hosea Bailouts " Treatise on Atonement" — that "mankind 
could not be accountable for their volitions and actions, if they 
were not free ; for if their actions are not free, they are not 
their own, but His, whose will influences and determines 
them. Nor will that account of the freedom of the will, which 
Ballon, and some others give, mend the matter ; who teach that 
all our liberty consists in being free to choose what is most 
agreeable to us. 

But on this supposition, the unregenerated sinner would 
choose, that is, xoould be impelled on in a course of disobedience 
by his evil propensities, without having it in his power to make 
the least resistance, or to abstain from one sinful action. In this 
case therefore, he would have no liberty, he would be under an 
absolute necessity of choosing and acting as he does. Such an 
one might be the object of pity, as the most unfortunate creature 
in the world ; but surely he could not be blamed in any sense. 
This would take away all the turpitude of sin, from the sinner, 
and fix it on Him whose will, however remotely, governs all the 
creature's volitions and actions. 

The curious notion of Ballou, and of some others, on human 
moral liberty, which is, that men are free only to choose that 
which is most agreeable to them, may be illustrated by the fol- 
lowing si mil ie : a fish is free to swim in the water, as it cannot 
do so in any other way ; it is free to stay in the water, because 
it cannot very well get out. A tree grows with its top towards 
the zenith, instead of its roots, because it is impossibte for it to 
grow in any other way. Now this is a wonderful picture of hu- 
man liberty, as held by Universalists ; yet it is a true picture, if 
men cannot do that, only which is most agreeable to them. 

But says the objector, I still contend thai no human soul can 
choose that which it does not choose. Well suppose he cant 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 117 

choose that which he does not choose, yet you cannot deny but 
lie may do that which he does not choose to do, and that 
men do often, in virtue of this power, many things which are not 
according to their best interests, and of course contrary to their 
most rational choice. Now the whole course of a sinful world, 
is a course of mental perversion ; in which all sinful actions 
are not according to man's best rational choice : yet they do many 
things contrary to their better reason, or better choice ; but 
were they not free agents, men could never do this, as the high- 
est reason for an act of any kind, would always preponderate in 
favor of its being done, and would inevitably secure its perform- 
ance. But free agency secures the power of doing that which 
men do not choose, as well as that which they do : or free agency 
does not exist at all. 

The notion of being only able to choose that which seems 
most agreeable — as Universalists believe — puts the cause of such 
choice in the thing chosen ; which thing, is therefore, the agent, 
the acting agent; while the person having the mind, is passive- 
ly compelled to accept ; and destroys all idea of human liberty, 
or ability of choice, in the receiver ; and is no more an agent in 
the matter, than a tree is an agent when it is the mark for the 
bullet of the shooter. There is a power in man, by which he 
can do that which he does not choose to do, both negatively and 
affirmatively. All that class of actions which men perform, that 
are contrary and disagreeable to the senses, are proofs that he 
does often act contrary to that which appears most agreeable. 
Self-murder, for instance, a crime the most abhorent to sensation 
and reason, is often committed ; though the love of life is the 
strongest passion of animal existence : and can never be per- 
petrated from choice — based on the expectation of an immediate 
or remote benefit, except in one or two cases, and these are : when 
a person who is sick of life, and believes iiUhe immediate annihi- 
lation of his mind, or in an immediate transition of that mind to 
a happy state with God in eternity, as do the Universalists ; 
either of whom might commit in such cases even self-murder, 
as all reason why they should not, is taken away : and the only 
reason why suicides do not prevail among that people, when in 
trouble, is because they do not in the most unbounded sense of 
the word trust to that belief, or else, because they are in no hurry 
to exchange the pleasures of &in and animal happiness for the 
company of God and the joys of heaven. 

It is of no importance for the Universalists to resist this conclu- 
sion, from a pretended submission to evil, on account of its being 
probably the best on the great whole, according to their belief; 
as there is no man of such mighty moral patriotic feelings, who 
will sacrifice his own immediate happiness for such a reason, 
when he knows it is within his own power to relieve himself by 



118 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

suicide, and enter into happiness — or at least into a state of insen- 
sibility. It is of no avail to insist that it is contrary to the will 
of God, the order of nature, or to the natural sensations, for one 
to lay violent hands upon his own life and destroy it ; for Uni- 
versalists hold, that every volition of man is required by the 
Divine Being — and that we act from necessity. To endure 
evil, therefore, has no virtue in it ; for if, in any way, we can 
relieve ourselves, it is our duty to do so — and if we cannot re- 
lieve ourselves, but are compelled to endure it, where is the 
virtue of patience ? Would Job have done a foolish act, if he 
had killed himself, in the midst of his sorrows, instead of endu- 
ring ? we think not ; except such an act would have prejudiced 
his happiness after death ; and we do not hesitate to say that he 
would have done so, had he been a Universalist ; as that course 
which promises the greatest and most immediate happiness, must 
of necessity, according to Ballou, who holds that men act from 
the greatest motive, have produced such an end to Job. But Job 
knowing full well, that if he should kill himself, he would secure 
his own misery in another world ; for he was not ignorant that a 
murderer hath not eternal life abiding in him. Had he be- 
lieved as Universalis ts believe, that the resurrection, after the 
soul and body had bleached in the earth many ages, would bring 
him up again, in a state of purity and holiness ; would he not 
have killed himself, rather than to live a few short days, even 
though he could have foreknown the prosperity which after- 
wards smiled upon the residue of his years? We think he 
would — as no possible evil could have befel him, had he taken 
such a course ; while an immediate relief from a state of the 
most horrid sufferings, would have ensued ; if the Universalist 
opinion about the immunities of the resurrection is true, and that 
there is no suffering on account of sin to the wicked after this 
life, then he may have* put an end to his days with impunity; 
while no principle in morals could condemn him for having so 
done. 

Men have power to do acts when not necessitated, which pro- 
mise no immediate nor remote pleasure, but the contrary, with 
augmenting evil influence and perpetuity. Who can deny but 
a man can do as much by luill as he can by accident. By acci- 
dent, a man may set on fire the treasures of his only and best 
friend ; and is it impossible for him to do so, even if he does not 
desire it ? does the circumstance of his want of desire to do so- 
great a mischief, deprive him of the ability ? we imagine not, 
for virtue consists in the right use of a poxoer to do wrong. If 
not, then has man no power to do either right or wrong, by vir- 
tue of an inward or inherent ability, but only as he is acted on by 
surrounding circumstances ; and is thus impelled one way or the 
other, as is mere matter by a concussion with mere matter. This, 
were it true, is a noble view of the noblest work of God, the crea- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 119 

tion of mind, which view, however, is the true child and offspring 
of fatalism, and a consequence of Universalism, as it regards 
human agency. On this plan, it can never be said, that men 
resist temptation ; for if at any time they do not comply with 
solicitations to do evil, all that can be conceived, as a reason why 
not, is that the temptation did not tempt strong enough, and is 
no evidence of virtue in him who imagined that he had resisted, 
as force in the attractor was wanting, and found insufficient. If 
such were the situation of the mind of human society, it were 
impossible to adapt law for its government ; and far more impos- 
sible with any show of justice to attach penalties for the breach 
of law, as the penalties, as well as the law, should be addressed 
by statute to the t emptors, and not the tempted. On this ground 
it is the horse which is stolen, that is to be punished for tempt- 
ing and exerting so strong an influence on the poor passive thief, 
and thus of all other crimes men are tempted to do. If this ex- 
change between the tempted and temptor could but take place, it 
were a fine affair, as man would find himself free from guilt, 
depravity, and all the consequences of sin, from self murder, 
down to the mere flit of an evil thought through the mind of the 
most simple and ignorant. 

But such a notion is base trifling with the height of human 
intellect and human responsibility, as well as with God, for man 
has a power to do evil, and to sin, not only relatively, as against 
his fellow, but also against God in the abstract, inasmuch as all 
sin has its root in the mind, (or no where) ere it is carried out 
into action, with all its wide spread ruin, as known in the world. 

Man can sin in some cases against God, according to the 
Scriptures ; which sins are not against our fellow. This is 
taught by the Saviour, when he said to the Jews, that if a man 
did but look on a woman to lust after her, that he committed 
already adultery in his heart. Here is a sin which is not rela- 
tive, as it is unknown, except to the sinner and the Creator, and 
affects no being in a relative sense. Now if one sin can be com- 
mitted which is not relative to our fellows, then the principle, 
as a principle is established, and proves that men can sin against 
God, abstract from all the circumstances of human life. If so t 
then it follows that man's nature is wrong, and that nothing can 
right it, but a supernatural and spiritual conversion to God, in 
which change the nature is set right again. To prove this posi- 
tion still further, we recollect that it is said in Scripture, that the 
law of God is exceeding broad, extending even to the thoughts 
and intents of the heart, of which there is no need, however, if 
all sin, is but merely relative, as contended by Universalists. 
Hundreds of passages and positions of the Scriptures can be 
found to establish the fact that sin exists primarily against the 
Supreme Being, and but secondarily against ourselves and our 
-fellows. 



120 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

Man has, therefore, a power, by virtue of his own liberty of 
will, or in other words, his free agency to do acts of pure turpi- 
tude and horror, which do not promise, either at the time of 
commission, or at any future time, any degree of happiness, and 
more than this, has power to will his own misery, (though not 
to love it,) even without a hope of recompense, which is often 
done in pure spite to an upbraiding conscience, and of the coun- 
sels of the just and the good. 

There is such a thing as abstract wickedness, and is called 
heart wickedness, or sin does not exist at all as a principle, and 
has no being among men, any more than it has among dumb 
animals ; for animals often hurt, rob and kill each other, yet this 
is not sin, either against themselves or each other, or any evi- 
dence of depravity in their natures, as is the case with man ; and 
the reason is because they are not moral agents. 

Man has the power even to amputate his own limbs, to de- 
stroy his neighbor and his neighbors property, to commit sui- 
cide, and all manner of enormities ; which if he had not, the 
omission of such evils, when tempted thereto, could not be a vir- 
tue. " The will is not necessitated, or so determined toward 
good as not to be able to do the opposite. This was the judg- 
ment of all antiquity, and of the church universal." Watson's 
Dictionary, page 899. So that the will is left free. 

We feel and know intuitively, that we have a power presump- 
tuously and foolishly to thrust ourselves into the water, into the 
fire, from the summit of a precipice, and upon death in many 
ways, even though we may not have the will to do so ; and 
that we are able to use such power, even to our own destruction, 
without the hope of present or future good of any description. 
Power and xvill, it should be noticed, are two distinct principles, 
and are possessed by all accountable beings, and may be exerted 
preposterously, as well as consistently and virtuously, or man is 
not a subject of moral government, is not a free agent, cannot 
sin against God, his fellow, or himself. 

But if, as before hinted, free agency is a dangerous gift, it 
may be also said to be a glorious and valuable gift, as by it the 
only means of approach to the Divine likeness is afforded ; as to 
this power, the law of God, which includes the whole system of, 
Christianity, is addressed : so that an immeasurable amount of 
happiness may accrue from its right use, which could not take 
place on a contrary opinion. With this amazing qualification, 
which men and angels have, the doors of future happiness in 
eternal perpetuity, are unlocked to every virtuous aspirant, as 
they shall advance to boundless fields yet unknown, of pleasures 
untasted and unseen, in the empire of ceaseless duration ; and 
would remain thus locked to endless ages, were it not for the 
right use of this key, intellectual free agency. Were it not for 
this qualification, man could not have either stood or fell, in the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 121 

proper sense of the word ; yet free agency does not include in its 
nature the right to do wrong, but the 'power only. 

What though it is contended by Universalists and some others, 
that man can choose nothing except that which is most agreeable 
to him, and therefore deny his essential moral freedom ; yet they 
fail to prove this opinion ; for even the very act of choosing that 
which is most agreeable, shows his freedom ; for, if he chooses at 
all, it implies that he might not have thus chosen, and therefore, 
even in this case the power is still seen in its full force. We 
know it is impossible to be approached by two objects dissimilar 
to each other ; the one pleasing and the other displeasing, with- 
out our perceiving it ; but this very power of perceiving the 
difference, and of choosing the one and rejecting the other, is the 
proof of free agency, as without this power we could not per- 
ceive the supposed difference. In this respect, all animal life is 
alike ; man only ascending by virtue of his rationality to moral 
subjects, while all the other grades of being below him, are left 
destitute, yet equally free to reject that which to them appears 
disagreeable. The fact, therefore, that man naturally chooses 
that which to him appears most agreeable, is as strong a proof of 
the existence of true free agency, as are the contrary exertions 
of the same power, shown in rejecting that which is disagreeable ; 
for surely, he who can move forward can also move backward, 
though not with equal ease. When we speak of man's naturally 
choosing that which to him appears the most agreeable, we are 
not to compare this natural freedom with the freedom of water 
to run down hill, or the natural gravity of all ponderous bodies, 
as this latter fact cannot be estimated as moral freedom, there 
being no reflection or thought exerted in the case ; while in the 
former there is reflection, and therefore choice is shown to be 
free ; or choice cannot be shown to exist at all. The faculty, or 
power of free choice, is certainly shown to exist in the Scripture, 
where it is written, " choose ye this day whom ye will serve ;" 
and in another place, " ye choose death in the error of your 
ways." It also is written of Moses, that when he had the oppor- 
tunity of being king of Egypt, being heir apparent to the throne, 
on account of Thermutis, the daughter of Pharaoh, having 
adopted him as her son, that he chose to surfer reproach rather 
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. In this case, it 
is clearly shown, that the most agreeable object, as it regarded 
the senses of Moses, was rejected on the account of a more dis- 
tant reward, not to be enjoyed till after death. 

The fact that man is able to reject any object which may be 
presented to the senses, which promises immediate gratification, 
on the account of a more distant and elevated good, of a mental 
and moral character, is evidence of man's moral free agency, or 
freedom. If it be urged, however, by the opponent, that although 

8 



122 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

this power is in the possession of our race, yet it simply shows, 
after all, man's utter inability to choose that, which upon the 
whole, appears as the best or most agreeable, either to the senses, 
or the more elevated powers of the mind ; we still maintain, not- 
withstanding, that his freedom is shown equally clear, or the 
word choice has no application to the condition of man ; and 
would, were it so, render the application of moral law to the race, 
as improper and useless, as would be the application of moral law 
to the fishes of the deep. But if the term choice is descriptive of 
an optional power in the human soul, however it may be influ- 
enced by agreeable objects, whether physical or moral, then the 
doctrine of man's free agency is made out. 

The five senses, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling, 
are exactly adapted to our present condition ; but if that higher 
power, called mind, one ingredient of which is its freedom of 
action, cannot govern those senses, then it follows that we see, 
not because the mind directs to the contemplation of objects ; the 
ear hears, not because the mind watches to distinguish sounds ; 
we feel, not because the mind discovers where the sensation is; 
we taste, not because the mind acknowledges this qualification 
of the glands of the mouth ; we smell, not because the mind is 
delighted with this mysterious power ; but because all these objects 
which are recognized by the senses, rush fortuitously upon them ; 
not being directed by the mind how to distinguish between ob- 
jects ; which, were it so, would be to half uncreate the soul and 
body of man, and render him wholly unfit for the present mode 
of existence. The mind therefore, has this power of choice ; it 
is not situated in any of the senses ; the senses cannot control it ; 
because it is a power wholly above that which is agreeable or 
disagreeable to these five avenues of the mind. Mind, therefore, 
is free, though adapted to the identical condition of the senses, 
which have no power of choice ; and would, were it so, entirely 
destroy its existence, and reduce the whole animal world to the 
condition of mere matter. The fact is, the senses could be no 
senses, except the mind exists to comprehend them ; and yet the 
mind can neither see, hear, smell, taste, nor feel. To suppose 
an organized body, without a mind, having all the senses, is to 
suppose the existence of eyes which cannot see, of ears that can- 
not hear, of taste which cannot taste, of smell which cannot smell, 
and of feeling which cannot feel. 

Now ought it to be believed that these unthinking, unknow- 
ing senses, can, or do control the mind ? if not, then it is clear 
that the mind can act independent of them, and above their 
solicitations; which proves its absolute power of freedom, or 
free agency, and the judge of what is best to be indulged in. 
But notwithstanding all this, we still admit that the mind cannot 
choose that which is disagreeable to it ; yet contend, that this 
very fact is the whole amount of the evidence of its real free 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 123 

agency ; or, as we have before said, the term choice, has no ap- 
plication to the condition of our race ; and also contend that this 
qualification gives not the right to do wrong, but only the power. 

This view of the subject entirely clears the Divine Being of 
desiring, or of determining the fall of man, or of being the cause 
of sin, directly or remotely ; which, were it so, would prove be- 
yond all doubt, a determination that sin should somehow come 
to pass, that our first parents should fall, that a breach of God's 
law should be perpetrated, that contempt should be poured upon 
his own government This would be strange work indeed, and 
so far as we are able to perceive, would make God a party with 
transgressors, or at least would afford the Most High an oppor- 
tunity of demonstrating, how easily and wonderfully he could 
repair moral ruin, which himself was pleased to have take place, 
and more than this, would at once show that sin does not exist, 
as says the Deist, because any thing instituted, carried on, and 
perfected by the Divine Being, either by his own direct power, 
or by remote agencies of his, is right in principle and in effect, 
and therefore is no sin. But sin does exist, not only secondarily, 
as against our fellows, but also primarily against God, as the 
governor or statute of the universe ; and though we believe the 
fall of man or angels were not desired events, on the part of God ; 
yet we believe that he was greatly glorified in the redemption of 
our race, but dare not say as some have said, that more glory- 
accrues to the Divine Being on that account, than if the law had 
riot been kept by our first parents ; for we ask, what more can 
even a redeemed creature do after all, than to keep God's holy 
law, which is no more, however, than could have been done, if 
men, or angels, had not have fallen. We dare not in this way, 
or any other way, make the Divine Being indebted to sin, which 
is the transgression of his own law, for an additional amount of 
glory to himself; nor dare we write and propagate among men, 
that the occurrence of sin was a desired event of the ever blessed 
God, as do Universalists. We are taught in Scripture that the 
immaculate life of Christ, as a man, honored for man the law, 
which had been dishonored by the disobedience of Adam and 
Eve ; but there is no intimation in that book that it was more 
than honored, even by Christ himself, a thing impossible ; how 
then can more glory arise to God, through the redemption, than 
if man had not sinned ? But on the other hypothesis, this must 
be true, even though it is impossible, and brings the glory of God 
in debt to sin ; because, if sin had not taken place, redemption 
would not have been applicable to our race. 

But if we believe the fall of man was contrary to the will and 
desire of God, as produced by rebelling free agents, we then at 
once perceive how exceedingly glorious an undertaking the plan 
and execution of redemption was, and how wide a field in this 
occurrence, was opened for the exercise of real benevolence on 



124 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

the part of God. But on the other idea, which supposes the 
Creator as toilling, and desiring the fall of man, redemption 
dwindles in its glory down to a mere show and ostentatious pa- 
rade of pity, which even in man could be nothing short of magnifi- 
cently disgraceful ; for if the fall of man was caused by the will 
of God, common generosity, nay, justice itself, would require 
that hd should restore him again, if his fall into sin did not please 
him. But such was not the case ; the fall of man was contrary 
to the eternal will of God ; yet he could not prevent it, unless 
he would control, or take away their free agency, which would 
have been in part to have uncreated man, a thing impossible, as 
the Creator changeth not in mind, though the principalities and 
powers of rational existence which he has made, change in moral 
character ever so much. 



Proofs of the Fall of the Angels, Refutation of several Propo- 
sitions of Balfour respecting the Opinions of Zoroaster, 
as copied by the Orthodox Sects, according to this Author, 
with many other Curious Matters. 

But to return again to the case of sinning angels, who kept 
not their first estate, as recorded by St. Jude and others, so as to 
ascertain the true origin of their sin, and reason of their apostacy, 
and of the being of Satan ; as this subject is one of the chief 
objects of this work. But before we proceed to investigate this 
subject, we are necessitated to prove that some of the angels, 
whose existence and supernatural character we have made out 
already in this work, fell from heaven, their first habitation, and 
became enemies to God, and all his works, with him, now called 
Satan at their head. We undertake to prove this, because it is 
denied by those sects who do not believe that there is literally a 
personal conscious being called Satan, or beings called devils, 
demons, and evil spirits, beings of an invisible state ; which, if 
we fail to perform, the chief design of this book is not made out, 
and the faith of those sects who deny their existence, stands 
unshaken in these respects. 

In pursuit of such proof, we know not where to turn, except 
to the Scriptures ; a book which is venerated by all, as the great 
text book of Christian theology, from whence all men draw 
authority in support of their religious faith, and is therefore an 
accredited source of information, on all subjects upon which it 
treats ; and this subject, that of the fall of some of such angels, 
is one. A book so sacred, and so high in authority, upon which, 
as upon a foundation of adamant, is built not only the hopes of 
this life, in moralizing and evangelizing the world ; but that of 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 125 

eternal existence and eternal happiness, should be allowed as a 
competent and sufficient arbiter on this subject ; what, therefore, 
does it establish in relation to it? See St. Jude, who in relating 
several instances of God's severity toward the incorrigibly wicked, 
as in the case of the unbelieving and rebellious Jews, who died on 
that account, in the great desert, between the country of Canaan 
and Egypt, and of the cities of the vale of Sodom, as suffering 
the vengeance of eternal fire, speaks also of the " angels who 
kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he 
(God) hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness 
unto the judgment of the great day? But is this fact, the fall 
of the angels, as stated by St. Jude, any where corroborated in 
the New Testament? it most certainly is; see John, viii. 44, 
where it is said, that our Lord said to the blaspheming Jews, 
that they did the lusts of their father the devil; '-'-who was a 
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth? 

Now who is this devil, who is said by even Jesus Christ to be 
the father of the Jewish lusts, which they did ? Was it Zoroas- 
ter, the great leader of the Persian Magian religion, of fire wor- 
shippers, who having been a Jew, left that religion, according to 
Balfour, and seizing on many new dogmas, which he received 
from the heathen, among whom he went, grafted them upon the 
Jewish stock, and taught them to the Persians ? if so, it must be 
shown that Zoroaster's apostacy from the Jewish religion, was 
the beginning of error in the world ; and therefore, that Moses 
was miserably mistaken, when many hundred years before 
Zoroaster's time, he had written the account of the fall of Adam 
and Eve from the truth, and the wickedness of all the human 
race, till his own time. 

Mr. Balfour has labored hard, see his « Enquiry," section first, 
to prove that the orthodox Christians have borrowed all their 
pecidiar sentiments, such as the existence of devils, the idea of a 
hell, of a day of future and general judgment, &c., from this Zo- 
roaster, and that Zoroaster got them from the heathen Greeks ; 
as he thinks it impossible for him to have derived these 
opinions from the Old Testament, although as we understand 
them are found in many parts of it, as in Genesis, Deuter- 
onomy, Judges, Samuel, Kings, the Prophets, Job, the Psalms, 
book of Solomon, and the Proverbs. Out of these books Zoro- 
aster enriched his works — and especially from the book of 
Psalms, which he nearly transcribed into his Zendavesta. It 
is impossible that so correct a knowledge of the character of the 
true God, could have been obtained by this Zoroaster, except 
from the writings of Moses and others of the Old Testament — as 
is here given from Eusebius, who says he had read the following 
words verbatim, in a book of Zoroaster, which was. extant in his 
time, and entitled "Sacred Collection of Persian Monu- 
ments." " God is the first of all incorruptible beings^ eternal 



126 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

and unbegotten. He is not compounded of- parts. There is 
none like nor equal to him. He is the author of all good, and 
entirely disinterested, the most excellent of all beings, and the 
wisest of all intelligent natures ; the father of equity, the parent 
of good laws, self instructed, and the first former of nature." 

Saristhani, quoted by Doctor Hyde, says that the first Magi, 
or most ancient Persian ministers of their religion, did not look 
upon the good and evil principles as both of them co-eternal, but 
thought that light was indeed eternal, but that darkness was 
produced in time by the disloyalty of Ahriman, the chief of the 
Genii. Here it is plain that the Persians, before Zoroaster was 
born, had somehow received the belief of the fall of the angels, 
which came originally, after the flood, from Noah ; but was more 
fully understood in Zoroaster's time, 600 years B. C, on account 
of his acquaintance with the Bible of the Jews. The writings of 
the Chinese abound with references and quotations from the 
writings of Soliman Ben Doiid, or Solomon the son of David, 
and no doubt carried thither by their own travelling philosophers. 

Mr. Balfour thinks it impossible for the orthodox sects to have 
taken their belief from the New Testament, but wholly from Zo- 
roaster. But how this can be we know not, and we believe is 
equally unknown to Mr. Balfour, as the writings of Zoroaster 
have never been known to the Christian church, otherwise than 
to a very few learned men, but never made common. If the or- 
thodox sects are guilty of Zoroasterism, then was Christ, his dis- 
ciples, and their immediate followers Zoroasterans, as those pecul- 
iar sentiments of the orthodox sects are certainly found in the 
New Testament, and there learned, as not one man among a 
hundred million Christians, ever saw the writings of that phi- 
losopher, or ever even heard of him. In accusing the orthodox 
sects of having taken their peculiar opinions from Zoroaster, Mr. 
Balfour accuses even the inspired writers of the New Testament 
with this plagiarism, as that book is all the authority the Chris- 
tian churches ever had or ever heard of, for its peculiar opinions, 
which Universal! sts oppose. It is to the Old and to the New 
Testament these doctrines are to be traced, even though miscon- 
ceived of, as Universalists seem to suppose ; yet from those books 
we know we derive our authority, knowing of no other. This 
ridicule therefore of Balfour is of no importance, as we rely whol- 
ly upon the New Testament, as it reads, for those peculiar senti 
ments — that of the being of Satan, the existence of devils or evil 
spirits, a hell and future day of Judgment at the end of the world, 
(fee. &c. 

If then the beginning, of which St. John (viii. 44,) speaks, 
when he says the devil was a murderer from the beginning, and 
abode not in the truth, has nothing to do with Zoroaster the great 
Persian theological law-giver, to what period does he relate? 
What truth did this devil forsake, if it was not his fall from hea- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 127 

ven, or first estate 1 That any angel ever fell from heaven is 
abhorrent to the ideas of Mr. Balfour, the great divine of the Uni- 
versalists ; for if this can be proved their whole opposition to the 
orthodox belief on these subjects vanishes away ; on which ac- 
count the texts most in point, by which it is proven, are avoided, 
or assumed not to mean this thing, whatever else they may 
mean. 

But St. Jude is corroborated in his statement by St. Peter as 
well as St. John, to all intents and purposes ; for this apostle hav- 
ing the same subject in view, that of God's severity toward the 
incorrigibly and perseveringly wicked, mentions false prophets 
then among the people, who brought in damnable heresies, deny- 
ing the Lord that bought them, whose damnation slumbered not ; 
and urges the certainty of their doom from the fact that " God 
spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, 
and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto 
judgment" 2 Peter, ii. 4. 

How is it that Universalists have become so much wiser on 
this subject than all former ages, for "the traditions of their fall, 
says Adam Clarke, is in all countries, and in all religions ; and 
whyl because the sense of all mankind so understood this ac- 
count of the Scriptures, who have had them to read, except a few, 
we will add, of recent origin and fast spreading notoriety. It 
was the belief of the Jews that Satan, a fallen angel, slew Adam, 
and in him slew all his descendants." Their opinion on this 
matter we think should have some weight, as we do not find it 
corrected by the Messiah, nor by his disciples who have given us 
his doctrine on this point, as on all the other pecidiar opinions 
of the orthodox sects. It is no marvel that among the gentiles, 
or heathen nations of remotest antiquity, a belief of the fall of the 
angels should have been extant ; for we are not to suppose that 
Noah was ignorant of the account of their fall — as given by 
Moses, in the book of Genesis, — nor any of his immedi- 
ate descendants, even for five hundred years after the subsi- 
ding of the flood ; for Shem, his oldest son, lived that length of 
time after the flood, and no doubt inculcated this account among 
all the descendants of Noah as much as was in his power. We 
believe this the more as it relates to Shem in particular, as there 
is much evidence that this same Shem was Melchisedek who 
was cotemporary with Abraham two thousand years before 
Christ. All the other branches of Noah's family must have car- 
ried this account with them every where, and in this way have 
filled the world with the tradition ; so that even if Zoroaster had 
never seen a copy of that part of the Old Testament, so far as 
written in the time of Isaiah, he would have had, as a well infor- 
med religious teacher of his time, a knowledge of such a doctrine 
as that of the fall of the angels. It was a fact that the doctrine 
of a good god and an evil god, who were opposed to each other, 



128 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



was a belief of the most ancient Persians. But from whom this 
idea was derived, Balfour, who admits this fact, does not relate, 
but seems to imagine it of their own invention. This however 
is a resort for its origin not called for, as it was an antedeluvian 
tenet of the Patriarchs descending from Adam to Noah, and from 
Noah to the time of Moses. 

But how is this proven ? It is proven from the statement in 
Genesis 3d, where the account of Eve's having been deceived by 
the serpent is given. We know very well that no brute animal 
of the creation could ever talk or reason, and therefore if one of 
them did do so, as in the case of Eve, that it must have been in- 
spired by a superior and supernatural being, as no one of a natu- 
ral or earthly condition could do it. This supernatural being 
was, therefore, that fallen angel, who had by his fall become the 
enemy of God and all his works, or it was nothing ; and thus we 
believe Moses understood it. 

To go on the ground which Balfour and all UniversaHsts do 
in the illustration of that subject, is to our understanding amaz- 
ingly out of joint. 

His and their opinions are, that Eve's lusts were the serpent 
which out-reasoned her understanding. Is it to be conceived as 
having been possible that the soul of Eve r the creature of God, 
new from his hand, was endowed with lusts which were to pro- 
duce her ruin as certainly as that God should place her under 
law ', as that law would as certainly draw out those lusts into ac- 
tion against such law, as flint and steel when driven against each 
other produce fire. However pure and good all the other parts 
of creation may have been, and however loudly the Divine Arbi- 
ter may have pronounced them so, yet could he not do this in re- 
lation to man ? as it is impossible for the unutterably Holy Crea- 
tor to approve of that which is radically evil in its very nature, or 
tending to evil. Yet he has done this, if Universalists are cor- 
rect ; as it is said that man was made in his own image and like- 
ness. Has God any lusts 7 if not, then a being having lust is 
not his image, and of course,, according to Balfour, neither Adam 
nor Eve Were made in his image, nor in any sense morally up- 
right, as the Scriptures assert they were. Lust is the offspring 
of her fall, not the cause, and could not have existed in her moral 
nature before that event. 

Balfour, in order to support this opinion of the lusts of Eve 
before she fell, quotes St. James L 15, who says — " Then when 
lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is fin- 
ished,, bringeth forth death." But this is arguing with the cart 
before the horse ; as lust, whieh bringeth death ? is now in man's 
nature, but was not originally; for if it was, then man is not fall- 
en, has not sinned — nay cannot sin ; as the legitimate action of 
all first principles implanted in man's nature cannot act against 
God nor his law y as Balfour says Eve's did ; unless we suppose 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 129 

the Supreme Being was divided against himself when he made 
them. This sentiment of Universalists is pure Deism, as it ex- 
cuses man from sin, and makes out by inevitable consequence 
that man has never sinned — a Redeemer, therefore, was never 
needed, all is now right, the religion of Nature is the only true 
religion. " It is true (however) that when lust hath conceived 
it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth 
forth death' 1 — moral and eternal ; which applies to the case of 
all the incorrigibly wicked \ but never was intended to apply to 
the condition of Eve nor of her husband before they had sinned. 

That Balfour is at fault in this respect, we further show by his 
statement in his Enquiry, page 30, about what lust is, who there 
says lust and desire are the same. If this were so, then all the 
animals of creation have lusts, as they have desire ! Whoever 
thought of supposing animals morally evil on that account ? — 
How then was man originally in a worse condition than the ani- 
mals ? All that Adam and Eve did was to act as they were made 
to act, like all other creatures, and therefore have not sinned ! 
This conclusion is as plain to Balfour, and to any Universalist 
as it is to us. 

Is it possible, that Moses being inspired by the spirit of God, 
could deliberately write such stuff: as that Eve's lusts had the 
power of reasoning — and by artifice and stratagem, out-witted 
and beguiled her own understanding ? We should imagine that 
had she the lust supposed, and being a part of her own nature, 
that they could not have dealt so treacherously with her, and 
have planned her ruin, so understanding^ : knowing far more of 
the nature of law, or pretended to know, more than Eve herself 
did. Lusts have no understanding ; appetites have no percep- 
tion ; they are not capable of argument, and could never mislead 
any one, were it not for the corrupted imagination, and corrup- 
ted powers of the mind : which on account of the fall, have 
become alienated from the life of God — which was in him before 
that event. For which reason, Moses could not with propriety, 
according with eternal truth — have personated by a real being, 
or image, the passions of Eve — as if they were a distinct exis- 
tence from herself — having the power of discernment, so as to 
be entitled to the appellation of — subtilest beast of all the field, 
This he could not have done, unless we suppose he intended to 
ridicule the work of God in producing the woman ; as Balfour, 
in consequence, makes him to do, in saying that she had lusts, 
as she came new from the hand of God : and by making him 
call those lusts, the subtilist beast of all the field, or world, and 
sets the Divine Being to curse his own work, and to say that a 
part of Eve should go on its belly all the days of its life, and eat 
dust — being cursed above all cattle. This is a most glorious 
view of the first man and woman's nature, as produced by the 
hand of heaven, in the very outset of our race. The whole sys- 



130 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

tern of IJnversalist notions hangs here ; for if they cannot main- 
tain that Eve had in her very being, as first created, deceitful, 
misleading and beguiling lusts, by which she fell, or was already 
corrupt, even before her fall : they are cut asunder from their 
hope and belief, that there are no fallen angels, and of conse- 
quence, no devil, or evil spirit, vanishes into smoke, from where 
it arose. 

This doctrine of the fall of the angels, was known, and believ- 
ed by the writers of the book of the history of Job, which there 
can be but little doubt was written by Moses — the same who 
wrote the book of Genesis — and consequently knew all about it, 
having a knowledge of all tradition, by education among the 
Hebrews, and the Egyptians : and also by inspiration, as he was 
a prophet, and the greatest legislator, who has ever appeared 
among men. In chapter iv. 18, of the history of Job, it is said: 
" Behold He [God] put not trust in his servents, and his angels 
he charged [in the past tense : observe it,] with folly." Now 
this stroke of the pen of Moses, about the angels, which God 
there charged with folly, we learn, they were not of the race of 
man, but superhuman beings, as is shown from the next verse, 
(the 19 th) by the contrast it presents — which is : that if God put 
not trust in those angels, and charged them with folly — " How 
much less (can he trust) in them that dwell in houses of clap, 
whose foundation is in the dust" mere mortals ; and how much 
more therefore, may not man be thus charged. Here the distinc- 
tion is clearly made out. between fallen angels, and men who 
dwell in houses of clay, which are crushed before the moth. 
The houses of clay, signifies, no doubt, our bodies which are 
made of dust, and to dust soon return again. This makes out 
their existence and their fall, or how could his angels have been 
charged with folly; and if such angels as are there charged with 
said folly, are distinguished from any, and all the race of man, 
by their not having their natural dwelling in houses of clay, 
then it follows that fallen angels are meant, and no other. St. 
Jude believed this, and says the devil was present at the death of 
Moses, and there contended for his body, who wanted the Jews 
should have it to bury, and as belonging to his empire — that of 
death, with the view of getting it idolized by the Israelites, and 
thus cause Moses' body to be a stumbling block to them — as is 
supposed. See Jude ix. 

John the Revelator, believes this doctrine — See chapter xii. 9, 
where the fact of his fall, and that of his associate angels, is 
plainly stated, and that they were cast out into the earth ; their 
leader being called that old serpent — the devil and Satan. This 
is pretty hard talk, if he meant Eve, with her constituent pow- 
ers, as created by the Almighty — which is so, however, if we 
are to believe Balfour. St. Paul believed this doctrine, or he 
would never have written as he did. See Cor. xi. 3 — " But I 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. I'd I 

fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his 
[not her] subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the 
simplicity that is in Christ." If Paul believed — as does Balfour, 
and all Universalists, on this point — -we should suppose that he 
might have said as much, in plain words, seeing the New Testa- 
ment is but a carrying out of all the first principles of theology, 
found in the Old, and himself, the greatest of commentators, 
with inspiration in the bargain. Besides, as Eve was a woman, 
her lusts — as Balfour calls her passions — before she sinned, we 
should imagine, should have been spoken of in the feminine 
gender also ; but St. Paul does not do this, but speaks of the ser- 
pent in the masculine, when he says : the serpent beguiled Eve 
through his subtilty, not her subtilty. But the Divine Being 
himself, sanctions this belief, and is the true origin of it : when 
he said to the serpent which had deceived Eve : the seed of the 
woman (Christ) shall bruise thy head, (in the atonement.) Now 
if he meant Eve's lusts, pray, which end of them is their head ! 
as certainly there is a head to be bruised, or no bruising could 
take place ; and more than this, it must be the very lusts of Eve, 
which are to be bruised, as it was her lusts, not those of her pos- 
terity which was threatened ; and then according to this view, 
this serpent, which was the lusts of Eve, was to bruise this seed's 
heel, for bruising her lusts, which is the same as her lusts bruis- 
ing themselves, — as they are the true serpent — long before the seed 
spoken of came into being : as it must be done in Eve's life time, 
as her lusts after her death, according to Universalists, were a hard 
matter to find, as such things do not follow our race out of this 
life. Universalists themselves, do not disallow, but the seed 
which was to bruise the serpent's head, was Jesus Christ, whom 
they know did not come into the world till four thousand years 
after the time of that promise ; therefore, how was the serpent 
the lusts of her soul, to be bruised in her life time, and so many 
ages before the existence of that seed, by that very seed ? Here 
is a mysticism with a vengeance, not more easily understood than 
are many of the dark things of Pagan theology. 

Now all these Scriptures — except such as we have drawn from 
the New Testament, in favor of the doctrine of fallen angels — 
were known to Zoroaster, who was well acquainted with the 
opinions of the Jewish doctors on this subject, as he has trans- 
cribed nearly all of the Psalms, with other parts of the Old Tes- 
tament, into his writings. How then is it, that Mr. Balfour, in 
his far-fetched and round-about argument, about Zoroaster's doc- 
trines of a future judgment — the being of a devil, and of fallen 
angels — with other opinions held by orthodox sects, now-a-days, 
and in all former days of the Christian era, should so greatly 
wonder from whence that Persian minister of the fire worship- 
pers got those ideas ? — and finally thinks he received them from 
the heathen Greeks, but don't tell us from whence the Greeks 



132 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

derived them. This however, we will suppose, as before sugges- 
ted, they learned from the Egyptians, colonies who settled 
among them hundreds of years before the time of Zoroaster, and 
taught them the arts — who, in those ages were barbarous hordes 
of semi-savages. But who taught the Egyptians such doctrines 1 
We reply : the Jews, when slaves in Egypt — who received them 
from Abraham, and Abraham from Melchisadek, or Shem, the 
son of Noah, and Noah from Methuselah, and Methuselah from 
Enoch, and Adam from God himself. We deny that such sub- 
jects, as the doctrine of the fall of angels — the being of Satan — 
future accountability, including a day of general judgment, at 
the end of time— and the place called hell, are the inventions of 
the Greeks, or of any other people whatever, originally ; but are 
matters of pure revelation of fact : however, now covered over, 
distorted, and disguised, by crafty priests of heathen nations ; yet 
in their real origin, are derived from a source, higher than the 
inventions of man, and have come down the course of time, till 
embodied in the books of Moses, and other men of the primitive 
nations, and are sanctioned by all the writers of the books of the 
New Testament — as dictated by the Holy Ghost ; Mr. Balfour, 
and all his adherents, to the contrary, notwithstanding. 

This author, as strange as it may appear, argues on page 138, 
139, of his Enquiry, to show that the law of God has bred lust, 
and lust in all men, (and in Adam and Eve, of course,) and 
brought forth sin ; yet St. Paul says the law is holy, just, and 
good, and therefore is not the origin of sin, of lusts, and of moral 
evil, but man's own disobedience of that law, was the origin. 
But some may retort, and say, if the law had not been made, 
could sin have existed ? We answer, no ! nor virtue either ; 
and moreover, had not God made man at all, he then could not 
have sinned : and accordingly, as much blame is to be charged 
on the act of creation, as upon a law given for the happiness of 
intellectual beings, but the truth is, neither are to blame. 

Balfour in his comment — see his Enquiry, page 137 — on Heb. 
ii. 11, 15, where St. Paul states that the object of Christ com- 
ing into our world, was to destroy him who had the power of 
death, that is, the devil ; endeavors to make out that the devil 
there meant by St. Paul, is the lusts of men, and that this lust 
was engendered by the law of God: and that St. Paul among 
other things, thanked God for the victory over the law. Who- 
ever heard the like ; when it is acknowledged as a cardinal point 
of the New Testament, that love to God is the fulfilling of the 
law of God ; and did St. Paul then give thanks that he had the 
victory over love, and consequently was not under its bondage : 
although it is called even by that apostle the law of liberty. 

This is the kind of liberty Universalists appear to be fond of; 
that of victory over the law of God, and all the sanctions of his 
government ; and no wonder Balfour imagines St. Paul gave 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 133 

thanks even to God, for victory over the law of God : a conclu- 
sion of all others the most out of joint, and novel. 

Were we to believe that the passions of Eve were lusts, which 
were created in her mind, as she came from the hand of God, 
the following simile would be discriptive of her condition. Her 
lust, as Balfour calls her first and innocent desires, we will rep- 
resent by a magazine of powder ; and the law of God, which 
said thou shall not touch nor taste the fruit of a certain tree, we 
will signify by a red hot iron ; now as soon as this hot iron, the 
law, came in contact with Eve's lusts, which was the powder, 
there was an explosion, which shook the universe ; the trembling 
of which has not yet subsided, nor the ruin produced through all 
the ranks of our race. But, in such a case, who was to blame ? 
was not that power which made the powder and then heat the iron 
and applied it to that combustible ? we should answer, it would 
seem so beyond a doubt. But we deny that Eve had any lusts, 
while we do not doubt she had desires and passions, for as much 
may be said of an angel of heaven, or of the human soul, in a 
glorified condition in eternity, as there can be no such condition 
in this or any other life, as that of indifference, or nonentity of 
desire. The fact of her having desires, therefore, cannot prove 
that they must of necessity have produced opposition to the law 
of God, so soon as the law should be made known to her, any 
more than the government of God can have such an effect now 
in heaven. 

This writer imagines he proves much against the being of a 
fallen angel called Satan, because St. Paul, 2d Cor. xv. 57, thanks 
God for the victory through Jesus Christ, over death, the grave, 
and sin ; but does not mention any thing about the devil. He 
seems to think that if St. Paul tells the truth in Heb. ii. 14, where 
he says the devil has the power of death, that he ought to have 
given thanks for victory over the devil. But dear reader, if you 
or me get the victory over an enemy's works and all his power, 
is not that a victory over the operator to all intents and purposes, 
so far as regards his influence. It was, however, no part of St. 
Paul's business, nor of any other Christian under heaven, to get 
the victory over the person and influence of Satan ; this is a mat 
ter which belongs to the Son of God, while man's business is 
merely to resist that evil spirit, in a specified manner, which if 
we do, it is promised that he will flee from us. We are not 
called to grapple personally with Satan, and to achieve victories 
over him in this way, but are to resist his temptations and Satanic 
influence, on and in our minds, by obedience to the law and 
commands of God, through grace in the Mediator. 

The writer of the book " Wisdom of Solomon," see Apocry- 
pha, ii. 24, believed in the being of a fallen angel called the devil, 
who says, that " through envy of the devil, came death into the 
world." This idea, says Balfour in his Enquiry, page 86, is an 



134 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

allusion to Genesis, iii. — from " which Christians have derived 
the idea that it was the devil that deceived Eve," and adds, if they 
can show a better source for this opinion, he hopes it will be 
done. But really, we do not see that better authority is needed, 
than the account as given by Moses, Genesis iii., see the whole 
chapter ; and because the writer of the Book of Wisdom, which 
was Solomon, the son of David, believed as we do on the reading 
of that account, and has so stated his belief, can be no reason 
in our mind why the authority of the statement of Moses, is les- 
sened about it. Balfour, with all Universalists, who are extreme- 
ly anxious to annihilate the devil — for reasons best known to 
themselves — seem to think that Moses should have said in plain 
words, that the devil, or Satan, said thus and thus unto the 
woman, instead of saying the serpent, &c, said &e., and then 
the subject would have been clear, and his being could not then 
have become a subject of dispute. Now we believe he did say 
so, in that same 3d chapter of Genesis. See our remarks on the 
Hebrew words Nachas, Nachashti, &c, in the former part of 
this work ; where we have shown that Nachash was rendered 
improperly by the Greek translators, Ophi, but should have been 
rendered Pithekos, which is the word in Greek for the Ape, or 
Orang-outang. We have shown, as we believe, that the He- 
brew words Nachas and Kooph, and the Arabic words K-ha- 
?iass and K-ha-noos, were the same in signification in the family 
of Abraham, and in the time of Moses ; as the Arabic and ancient 
Hebrew are of the same origin. We have shown that the words 
K-ha-nass and K-ha-noos, in the Arabic is an Ape or Orang- 
outang, and is also the name of the devil in that language, and 
accordingly, Nachash was the same in the Hebrew ; so that if 
Moses had written, now the Kooph, or the K-ha-nass, or K-ha- 
noos, was more subtil than any beast of the field, it would have 
been just as proper as was the word Nachash, as they all allude 
to the same creature, and were the same in meaning. Now, 
unless this is a right view of this criticism, on those Hebrew and 
Arabic words, we should like to know how St. Paul, 2d Cor. xi. 
3, could there speak of the serpent as beguiling Eve, unless he 
means the Arabic K-ha-noos, which is the devil ; because St. 
Paul knew, that no animal had the power to mislead any human 
being, by acts of sophistry, as that K-ha-noos did the mother 
of us all. St. Paul was a Hebrew scholar of the first order, and 
knew well, that Nachash, Kooph, and K-ha-noos, were indif- 
ferent words in the language of Moses, and does not, therefore, 
hesitate to say, as does John the Revelator, xii. 9, that the being 
who beguiled Eve and the whole world, was the devil, not Eve's 
lusts ; because at that time, she had no lust, such as now cor- 
rupts the human mind, fallen as we are from our first condition 
in our first parents. 

We ask Mr. Balfour with all others who hold with him in this 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 135 

thing, how they make out that Eve's nature was any worse after 
her commission of the breach of the command than it was before, 
as there certainly was on their hypothesis, a disposition in her 
to sin before she did the act, which disposition was sin itself, 
and therefore ascertains her to be already as wicked the very 
moment she became a conscious being as she ever was afterward. 

The reader will perceive that the serpent, which was her lusts 
according to Balfour, had conceived the plan of disobedience and 
had determined to execute it ; which determination was as much 
a sin in the sight of God as the act itself, because God looketh on 
the heart, and is an observer of the intents of the mind. But 
did God produce a creature of this sort ? Never — it was impos- 
sible. He cannot make a natural rebel to himself — it is morally 
impossible ; yet such was the fact, if that being or thing called a 
serpent in our language, which misled the woman by sophistry 
of which her innocence was incapable, was her lusts. 

But now that man has fallen he has lusts and inherent capa- 
cities, which are in and of themselves ready to explode and to 
manifest themselves the very instant moral law is announced of 
God for the government of the human soul. This is the reason 
St. Paul said he had not known lust but by the law, for the very 
reason that the incipient principle had not, till the law on the 
commandment came, found any thing to resist. But such was 
not the condition of Eve ; unless we can believe that her spirit 
before she fell and our spirits now that we are fallen, were in one 
and the same condition ; which, were it so, would make out that 
mankind is not now fallen or depraved. 

The word in the Hebrew which is rendered lust, into the Greek 
language is aout ; see Deut. ii. 15, 20 : the Greek word is Epi- 
thumia, and in our language it is lust, concupiscence and libidi- 
ousness, or wicked desires of any kind. Lusts and innocent de- 
sire are different in their nature, but Balfour makes them one in 
the primitive mind of Eve, which is charging God with the cor- 
ruption of her nature ; which were it so, would have been her 
and all the world's excuse ; nay more, there would have been no 
sin or God is a sinner in having made the first sinner, which is 
impossible. 

But Balfour thinks that Moses having found out the snake 
was the most cunning, most subtil, the most understanding and 
malignant animal of creation, chose it therefore, as a figure of 
her mind and disposition. But there is much to prove, ere the 
snake can be satisfactorily relied on, as having been at that time, 
or even now, the wisest animal of creation. Nay, we aver 
that it is not, by an immense amount, when compared with the 
Orang-outang, the elephant, or even the dog. But it should be 
recollected, that Moses does not say the serpent, which he there 
speaks of, was a malignant animal, but only a subtil, or under- 
standing animal ; and therefore, Mr. Balfour fails in his supposi- 



136 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

tion, that Moses chose this creature to portray the wickedness of 
the pristine mind of Eve, before her sin. It were a strange thing 
indeed, had Moses selected the worst and most malignant reptile 
in nature, as the picture and representative of the mind of the 
most pure and exalted creature which God had created on the 
earth. Surely inspiration must have been strangely inclined to 
ridicule, and slander the operation of Divine Wisdom, if Mr. Bal- 
four is right in his conjecture. 

From every view we are able to take of this subject, we are 
compelled to believe in the existence and presence of a fallen an- 
gel, who being superior in subtilty to Eve, had the power to 
tempt and deceive her in the form or disguise of such an animal 
as is alluded to by Moses and called the Nachash or K-ha-noos, 
as no animal which was created had the ability to do so ; nor are 
we at liberty to imagine that Eve had wicked lusts in her which 
could have misled, out-reasoned, deceived and ruined her, prior 
to her fall, if we wish to represent the Divine Being as infinitely 
good and holy, in the operation of his hands. 

The solution which Universalists give of the account, as given 
by Moses, respecting the serpent which beguiled Eve, makes her 
tell a lie, even to God, when she replied to his interrogation of 
" What is this that thou hast done ?" she said : the serpent 
beguiled me ; as she never could have meant that an animal 
had caused her to do it, if it was herself alone. This is the fair 
result, unless it can be shown that she said in reply to the ques- 
tion that it was the Aout, (Hebrew) which beguiled her. Had 
she have used this word, it would then have been a clear 
case that she meant that her lusts had beguiled her ; but this she 
did not say : while she did say that the Kooph, or the Nachash 
had done it — which words did not signify either herself or her 
passions. 

Now if Moses only meant to show the malignity of Eve's state 
of mind by the figure of a serpent, because it was the worst 
animal in being ; yet there was no need of his saying that Eve 
had said so, and thus make her the author of a falsehood, if 
there was no animal in the case. 

But says an objector, did Eve mean to tell the Lord, that the 
devil, or an evil spirit, a distinct being from herself, had beguiled 
her ? We answer — no ; for at that time it cannot be supposed 
that she knew any thing of such a being ; she therefore said that 
the Nachash, an animal — if it was so called at that time— had 
done it. This was a proper answer for her to give, as she had 
seen and conversed with nothing, in her estimation, but that 
animal — the Nachash ; as the evil being who had possessed it, 
was all that time invisible, but caused the creature to open its 
mouth, and to utter articulate sounds, clothed with argument and 
sophistical reasoning. 

According to the Universalist solution of this subject, she 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 137 

should have said to the Lord, that it was herself, her passions. 
which had beguiled her, instead of the Nachash. But Moses 
has given the account as handed down to him by the tradition 
of the antedeluvian patriarchs — and especially as given by Mel- 
chesidek to Abraham — who gave it to Isaac, and Isaac to Jacob, 
and from him it descended to all the branches of his race, as well 
as to the Egyptians, among whom Moses was brought up ; as 
well as among the Hebrews, then living in Egypt. If there was 
no animal used in the case, it is certainly an uncalled for addi- 
tion to the account, when Moses said, that Eve said the Nachash 
had deceived her ; when, according to Universalist writers, it 
was wholly the invention of Moses, merely to illustrate by the 
serpent, as a figure, the horrid condition of Eve's mind at the 
time when she did just what God wanted her to do, by the 
means of her lusts, as implanted in her soul by himself. 

Universalists, in then ridicule of the belief which orthodox 
people hold about the being of Satan, as having entered the or- 
gans of the subtilist beast of all the field, to deceive Eve ; inquire 
with much archness, and certainty of not being answered, why 
God should have cursed the poor animal, as it could not have 
been to blame, having been only a passive instrument in the 
hands of this fallen angel? To this it is answered, that the 
curse did the creature no harm, as it does not appear that it was 
put in pain on that account, or that it ever knew any thing about 
it ; being of necessity ignorant that any change had passed upon 
it. Why then was it cursed at all ? simply for this reason, is 
our reply : by that act of God, a perpetual momento of the Divine 
Being's dipleasure against the sin of Eve, was established, which 
not only subjugated the woman to pain and death, with all her 
offspring, but extended to the very instrument of that sin, as 
descriptive of the Supreme Being's displeasure at the act. The 
same may be said of the earth, whose soil was also cursed ; the 
meaning of which, is doubtless, that a great change was allowed. 
or caused to take place in the atmosphere of the globe, so that 
the very elements fell into conflict, producing more heat, hu- 
midity, and more cold, than otherwise would have been, if the 
soil had not been thus cursed, or changed for the worse, on ac- 
count of Adam's sin. The Divine Being could have sustained 
the earth and the elements in its first perfection and beauty ; 
there was no necessity, following as a consequence of sin, that 
the earth should be thus affected ; but God, to show his marked 
displeasure at sin, has, as it were, almost abandoned his support 
of the earth, and allowed it to fall into a state of partial confusion, 
that man may have forever before his eyes the signs of his sin. 
stamped on the very circumstances which minister to his natural 
life ; yet of all this the earth knows nothing, and is not wronged 
any more than was the animal. But if it be insisted still, that 
there was no animal in the case, but Eve's lust only, we should 

9 



138 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

like to be informed what part, or on which side of her lust it is 
considered the belly was situated, because it was said, on thy 
belly shalt thou go; a belly therefore, should somewhere, or 
somehow be accounted for, or the language of inspiration in this 
case seems to have no meaning. But if we receive the account 
as it is written, and allow the existence of a fallen angel, now 
known to Scripture as the devil, who made use of an animal, so 
as to bring himself into a tangible situation in relation to Eve, 
then all the language of that account, as given in Genesis, is 
consistent, and easy to be understood, and not otherwise. 

Some have imagined, that by this account of the, sinning 
angels, as given by St. Jude, is meant the apostacy of some of 
the early ministers of Christianity, and that the chains of dark- 
ness, and the hell into which they were cast, was their ignorance 
and misery of mind ; and that the judgment for which they 
were reserved, was the destruction of the city and nation of the 
Jews, by the Romans under Titus. This idea, is as foolish and 
as lame a solution, perhaps as can well be invented ; because it 
is impossible to show, that any of the first angels or ministers of 
the gospel apostatized at all, except Hymenus and Philetus ; and 
even if there were others, and the account is not given us, yet it 
is impossible to show that they did not return again ; or if it be 
supposed they did not, yet still it is impossible to show that they 
lived till the time of the destruction of that city. And unless 
that can be proved, this notion is without the shadow of a foun- 
dation, while the belief that they were superhuman angels, who 
thus fell, as stated by St. Jude, St. Peter, and St. John, as alluded 
to in many other parts of the New Testament remains steadfast. 
If then we have succeeded in showing that those angels were 
superhuman beings, and fell from a superhuman condition, and 
state of happiness, called their own habitation and first estate, 
we shall now proceed to examine the maimer of their fall, the 
cause of Satan, and how it may have taken place. 



Fall of the Angels, and Cause of JSatan's Being ; with other 
Subjects connected therewith. 

We have supposed already, as the reader may recollect, that 
the angels were not put on trial or probation immediately after 
their creation, but were left awhile in an incipient state, or con- 
dition, for a purpose which we have before stated, till such time, 
or times, as the Creator should see fit to reveal himself to them, 
as the author of their being. But not, however, in such a way 
and manner, or with such degrees of evidence of that fact, as to 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 139 

overwhelm their powers, rendering thereby the gift of free agency 
nugatory and without opportunity of action, so as to prevent their 
voluntary acceptance of him as their creator and rightful king ; 
as on this point, it was determined, as we believe, that a confir- 
mation and continuance of their happy state should ensue. 

This point we have before argued, yet in this place for the 
sake of perspicuity we will repeat : that to us it appears a mate- 
rial law in the Divine government, not to astound his subjects 
on probation, with an overwhelming amount of compulsory evi- 
dence, in relation to any subject to be presented for their investi- 
gation and belief; but rather giving that quantum of evidence 
to their consideration, which should exactly harmonize with their 
degree of liberty and free agency; otherwise than this, there 
could have been no trial whether they would have chosen good 
or evil, free agency would have been out of the question, as no 
room under such circumstances, could be found for its exercise, 
as before remarked. 

But, in pursuance of this subject, we wish not to forget, that 
we are now at an amazing height in theology ; even laboring at 
the point where sin had its origin ; and if we ask the question at 
all, we will ask it here : Why, if God for eknew, as he certainly 
did, that man, and some angels, would fall, and the latter beyond 
recovery, while also many of the former would be finally lost ; 
why, we ask, did he create them at all 1 why not prefer for them 
ah eternal state of nonentity as to their existence, rather than to 
bring into a conscious condition, beings capable of endless dura- 
tion, and of endless sufferings ? As to this question, we have 
satisfied our own mind in the following manner, by supposing 
the Creator may have thus communed with himself, on this 
very subject, long before he created any thing. Not that we 
believe in a succession of ideas in the Divine mind, yet as we 
have no other way to express ourselves on such a point, we have 
said that he may have thus communed with himself on the sub- 
ject of intellectual creation, as follows: I am that I am, the 
Eternal God, there is none beside me, and shall never be fully 
known to any but myself; and from the benevolence of my 
nature, or attributes, I am determined to bring into being innu- 
merable existences of mind, of animals, and of matter. Mat- 
ter, I know, although I create thousands of systems of worlds of 
it, yet can it never think, know, love, obey, ox fear me, and there- 
fore cannot as mere matter, unaccompanied by other and superior 
existences, glorify me as its Creator, not having a knowledge 
even of its own substance or being. And though I were to peo- 
ple as many systems, with innumerable animals, having no 
rational powers ; yet these cannot know, love, fear, or glorify 
me as their Creator; for neither can these know, that even 
themselves exist. And, therefore, if I will be known, loved, 
feared and glorified, as Creator of all things, 1 shall find it neces- 



140 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

sary to bring into being existences, which shall be endowed 
with a likeness and image of my own moral and eternal intel- 
lect, on which account such beings will live to eternity, coeval 
with myself, and never either become insensible, or cease to 
be, as it shall relate to their minds. These having in a de- 
gree my image, as it relates to moral powers ; and as it relates 
to eternity of being, my full likeness, forth forward from the 
time of their creation, will, in distinction from all matter , 
whether animate or inanimate, have a power of perception, 
so as to be able, not only to know that they themselves exist, 
but also in proportion as I will reveal myself to them, may 
know, love, obey and glorify me. By this means, therefore, 
though I create myriads of systems of matter, in the form 
of globes, or worlds, and shall people them with as many kinds 
of animals ; yet all these, though they cannot know either 
themselves or me, shall glorify me, as through them in a 
measure, my eternal 'power and Godhead shall be known, to 
such beings as I shall make in my image and likeness. But 
I must not only endow them with a measure of rational under- 
standing, but also with the power of moral freedom of will, 
or they will not be able to make use of their understanding ; 
which if they cannot, will be to them a useless attribute, and 
a useless attribute is the same as none at all : for as I am a 
free spirit, a portion of this principle must be given them, as 
the crown of their intellectual natures, and my peculiar like- 
ness. By this, they will be constituted intellectual free 
agents, having power to will and to do, in a limited sense ; 
but not so limited, however, as that their acts shall not be 
their own, and their vice or their virtue their own, not mine. 
Jf this is not done, they will not be above that grade of my 
works comprehending mere animals, and therefore, incapable 
of moral action and moral accountability, and in such a con- 
dition can never know, love, obey, nor glorify me, as their 
Creator ; yet if I shall thus endow them with freedom of will, 
or in other words constitute them free agents, in the volitions 
of their mind ; then they will most assuredly be liable to fall, 
and to apostatize from me, and loose the holy, innocent, up- 
right state, in which I, as God, can do no otherwise than cre- 
ate them, as I can never create that which is evil, or having 
any tendency thitherward, for liability and tendency are two 
distinct principles. But if I do not thus endow them, then 
they cannot act freely, and can never be moral agents, nor in 
any degree be above that scale of existences which will dis- 
tinguish the brute creation ; who can never act, except as the 
law of instinct and sensation shall direct ; for which reason 
it is impossible for them to be accountable for their acts, as 
there will be no intellectual moral freedom of choice in their 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 141 

power. Under such circumstances, should I give them a law, 
it cannot be such a law as shall make them accountable, as it 
will not be possible for them to err in a moral sense, as they 
will act only as they shall be acted upon ; moral law to such 
beings cannot be in any sense applicable. 

In the creation of mind and matter, 1 seek my own declara- 
tive glory, by communicating a knowledge of myself to the 
intellectual part of my works ; and in return, desire to receive 
their love, obedience and adoration, which, if performed, will 
insure their happiness, and shall be required in the nature of 
such laws as I shall adapt to their state of being. But if I do 
not make rational moral free agents, then shall I be forever 
prevented from being declaratively glorified, as no other kind 
of being can do it, but such as shall have this tremendous 
qualification ; and in consequence, so far as it can relate to 
my declared glory, will be the same as if I should never create 
anything at all. I therefore determine to create such beings 
as shall be intellectually free to act morally right or wrong, 
as they alone may elect ; otherwise than this, it will be im- 
possible for me to introduce beings into existence having 
capacities of intellectual happiness, and will baffle my great 
design of endless benevolence, and of being thus glorified by 
the works of my hands, and to manifest the glory of my power. 
But should I make angels and men, in such a condition as to 
them shall appear that they act freely, but in fact shall not be 
free, and on that account should enter into judgment with 
them, if any should err ; when at the same time I shall know 
that my unseen power propels them to every action, and that 
their doings will be but the echo of my own will, and that I 
could succeed in hiding this fact from them to all eternity ; 
yet in me, such a procedure could never be sanctioned by 
my holiness, and therefore such a state of things can never 
take place, because it would be morally inconsistent, and 
therefore impossible, under the administration of heaven. 
And now that the subject has been duly weighed in the eter- 
nal mind, as it relates to the condition in which I will produce 
intellectual beings, and find it can be no otherwise accom- 
plished ; shall it, therefore, be done ? seeing I foreknow that 
some will abuse this amazing qualification of their being, 
which is free agency, and descend to unutterable ruin, 
whether redeemed or not. Benevolence being a trait and an 
attribute of my nature, as well as that of omniscence, is it 
consistent with that benevolence that I shall create beings and 
endow them with so fearful a power, which will put ruin with- 
in their reach, seeing I also know that some will abuse that 
power, to their own endless destruction ? It is consistent ; 
inasmuch as the creation of that power cannot be the cause of 



142 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

their ruin, nor the possession of that power, nor any secret 
operation of mine ; but solely its abuse and pervertion to pur- 
poses which can never be sanctioned by my holiness, will be the 
real and only cause of sin, and their destruction. I shall there- 
fore create them thus ; for if I do not, they cannot be moral 
agents, and never can enjoy true intellectual happiness, and will 
compel me to create, if I will create at all, nothing higher than 
mere irresponsible animals, and the globes on which they must 
subsist, whose mere existence can bring no glory to my great 
name, under such circumstances, and therefore I may as well 
renounce forever any such operation. But I shall not renounce 
it, as it is consistent to create beings with this exceeding endow- 
ment; for if I do not, my declarative honor will be forever 
prevented ; and besides this, shall I suffer the foreseen evil and 
apostacy of some, to prevent me of the creation of countless 
myriads of others, whom I know will not abuse that gift, and 
will remain forever happy? shall I suffer some evil foreseen, to 
overcome and prevent an immensity of good, as it shall relate to 
others, who will not abuse that power? But were it foreseen of 
me, that mwe evil will ensue from the abuse of free agency 
among the moral beings which I am able to produce, than good, 
then a reason why creation should not be allowed to proceed, 
from motives of universal benevolence, would seem to be afford- 
ed ; yet even under such a predicament, as that of the existence 
of more evil than good, the principle of benevolence in me, 
would remain unimpeached, as it is impossible for me to will the 
ruin of any part of my intellectual creation, however I may for e- 
sce the abuse of my gifts ; which abuse will be their ruin, but not 
by my will. But if the gift of free agency shall render all liable, 
may not all the intellectual beings which I may bring into being, 
descend into a state of ruin ? this is even possible, and may so 
turn out, as my, "mere foreknowledge of events can have no influ- 
ence on the action of free creatures. And if I will continue to 
them the power of free agency, I, even I, cannot prevent their fall 
by sin, as it is a free principle, and cannot otherwise exist, than 
by its own freedom, which I will not destroy out of their natures ; 
for were I to do this, it would be to render them unaccountable, 
and to retrench a part, and the most beautiful part of my intel- 
lectual creation. But on the other hand, is it not equally possible 
by virtue of this ennobling gift, that none of all the myriads of 
intellectual beings which I may cause to exist, will abuse their 
gift of free agency, and therefore may, if they will, live forever 
in a state of progressive perfection ; yet even such a state of 
things cannot ensue, merely because I foreknow all events ; 
but because they can will obedience to me, which power will be 
the very design of their liberty of will, and glory of their natures. 
But on the principle of my foreknowledge of their abuse of this 
free power ;_how is it, as a principle, either consistent or benevo- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 143 

lent for me to create such beings or individuals at all ? on this 
ground, and this alone, it is answered : I shall be benevolent in 
design, and for the same reason shall be consistent m 'principle, 
as inconsistent benevolence cannot find a place in the Divine 
mind. There is no reason, therefore, that foreseen evil should 
prevent the operations of my hand, if such foreseen evil shall 
arise solely out of the abuse of high and holy privileges, but not 
out of my works, as a matter of necessity. Could such an event 
transpire, as that sin and moral ruin should arise, as a matter of 
course or necessity, out of the operations of my hands, then 
indeed will it be seen of those to whom intellectual perception 
shall be given, that my wisdom, my goodness and ability to 
arrange and create orders and systems of being without containing 
in them the germs of dissolution, and moral damnation, does not 
exist ; which is not according to truth ; but were it so, would 
argue me, and more than argue, would prove me, in the view of 
such beings, a God far enough from possessing consistent unlim- 
ited power, wisdom and goodness. But I am certainly able to 
produce beings of such moral powers, and having such degrees 
of free agency as shall enable them to decide their own happi- 
ness, or their own misery, by the abuse or the right use of prin- 
ciples and powers which I can give them ; or I am not entitled 
to the claim of universal homage, as having unlimited, consistent 
power and goodness. Were I not able to do this, then were it 
impossible for me to produce beings who could be accountable to 
me, as it would be impossible, on that account to address to their 
attention moral law, as moral law would be as unfitly applied to 
beings of such a description, as to the beasts of the wilderness, 
not having power to accept and obey, or to reject and disobey. 
On this ground, as it will be impossible for them to sin, so wili 
it be equally impossible for them to serve me, only as unthinking 
matter shall serve me, moving only as it shall be acted upon, 
which is in no degree intellectual service. But I do know, that 
a vast amount, both of angels and men, who shall people heaven, 
and the worlds, and systems of worlds which I will frame, will 
not abuse this gift, will not pervert their agency, however severe 
ly they may be tempted, will not rebel against my goodness, to 
be developed in my laws and government ; but will sta?id, hold- 
ing fast their first estate, in eternal fruition and perpetuity, by a 
right use of their free agency, of which gift I will be the author, 
and will ever honor, as the brightest trait in their intellectual 
being, without which gift their being can be of no real value. 

Thus we have satisfied our own mind, and, as we think, have 
justified the Divine Being in bringing forward, from a state of 
non-existence, the creation of men and angels, even though 
he knew that some would fall away from their first condition of 
innocence ; by showing that his design was benevolent, and that 
he could not have willed the sin and ruin of any, nor have made 



144 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

them accountable, without also making them liable. Sin, there- 
fore, came into being, not of God's set purpose, but from the 
abuse of the very gift which constitutes the moral existence of 
all intellectual beings. 

But says the Universalist, who objects to the fact of man's free 
agency, as qualified by the orthodox sects of religion ; can it be 
maintained that a good and powerful father can be consistently 
benevolent, who shall bring into being a child, and then put a 
dangerous weapon in that child's hand, by which that father 
foreknows his child will certainly destroy its own life ? we think 
it can be maintained, but on one ground, and on no other. Pray 
what ground is that? it is this, and this alone ; if that knife, or 
weapon, is made essential to the whole happiness and well being 
of the child, if properly used, it is consistent, as without it, it 
could not be happy. 

This similie illustrates our idea of intellectual free agency, as 
without it intellectual beings cannot be happy, though it is a 
dangerous gift. Any other view of this subject neutralizes man's 
accountability to God, either in this life or the life to come, as 
well as to himself, or to his fellow man ; for virtue starts from the 
same point, where sin may also have its beginning. 



Chi the Mode or Manner of the Trial of the Angels, and 
respecting those lohofell. 

But to return again to the main point, that of the first sin, and 
reason of the being of the devil or Satan, with other fallen an- 
gels. But what light is there that shines on a path whose track 
runs over so high a region ? None, except that of mere human 
research and speculation. John Milton, the greatest of English 
poets, has struck out for himself, in blank verse the most exalted, 
way over this moral Alps, as found in his Paradise Lost, the 
story of which is as follows : 

Long before the creation of this world, or any part of the solar 
system, when the space it now occupies was dark and void, 
when chaos reigned, as it had reigned from unbeginning eter- 
nity ; on a certain day, such days as eternity brings forth, all the 
angels or first beings, were, by the summons of the Most High, 
brought immediately around the throne of the supreme pre- 
sence ; who, as they arrived, took their places according to their 
degrees of intellectual excellence, in circles, one beyond another, 
orb encircling orb, of circuits inexpressible, on account of their 
multitudes. "From all the ends of heaven they journeyed on 
golden wings, under their various hierarchs, or angel-captains, 
waving as they came on, myriads of ensigns, standards and gon- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 147 

falons, twixt van and rear serving as distinctions of their various 
orders and degrees. But when arrived around the flaming 
throne of God, which arose from the heights of a mount, whose 
top was involved in light which made it invisible, silence was 
required : then the glittering wings of these morning stars fell 
from their outspread glories, as so many robes of state, in majesty 
about their forms, shrouding all their lineaments divine in the 
habiliments of light. 

Now the purpose for which they were come together, from all 
the provinces of heaven, was announced from out of the midst of 
the mount, by a voice which sounded as the roar of many wa- 
ters, or as the sound of many thunders, informing them that it 
had pleased the Creator to reveal to their notice a character and 
a person, of whom as yet they knew nothing. This person, by 
that voice was called the Son of God, who now appeared on the 
summit of that mount, in excessive glory and beauty, [See the 
Plate) bearing the human form, whom all the angels were now 
required to worship and forever obey. This mandate heard, 
each to their province and. palace of abode sped their way, in 
ranks and orders as they came, peopling heaven's far spread 
plains with the sons of light, seeming well pleased with their 
new allegiance to this before unknown Son of God. But it soon 
appeared that all were not thus pleased, as there was one among 
their number who was higher than all the rest, the only arch- 
angel of the heavenly powers, and the brightest of the celestial 
hosts ; who, as he journeyed on rapid wings, far from the throne 
of God, « in the sides of the north," whispered treason in the ear 
of one of the angels, next in power to himself. He cautiously 
unveiled his mind respecting this Son of God, to whom knee- 
service, as he called it, was required ; insinuating that himself, 
with all the rest, were imposed upon, as it was his right, not this 
stranger's to receive honor and obedience from all the angels, as 
their only superior, God alone excepted. 

Here, according to Milton, sin had its origin, commencing in 
the mind of this spirit, the highest free-agent which God had 
made, who took envy at the Son, whose glory and majesty ex- 
celled his own, with attitudes of dignity and command, far sur- 
passing all the glories of angelic natures — so that he suffered un- 
conquerable hatred to take the place of his previously happy feel- 
ings of subordination and peace toward the Most High. The 
heresy of this angel soon spread among the sons of light, and at 
length seduced full one-third of their number ; who, embodying 
themselves under this angel, waged war upon the other angels, 
who would not receive this doctrine of opposition to the Son of 
God, intending to besiege and conquer the throne itself, and seize 
upon unlimited rule in heaven, compelling even God himself to a 
state of vassalage. But against this apostacy all the other angels 
contended in array on the field of battle, yet without success or 



148 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

defeat for the space of two days ; but on the third day, the Son of 
God, whom they had despised, entered the arena alone and single 
handed, against this mighty boaster and traitor of heaven, with 
all his company. This Son of the Most High, whose gentle man- 
ners on the day they first saw him they had despised, now put on 
terrors dreadful and severe, gathering in his countenance frowns 
irresistible, and mounted his chariot of power, whose wheels shook 
heaven, all but the throne itself, as he rolled in fury toward the 
rebel ranks. But soon he arrived among them, when with his 
right hand grasping ten thousand thunders, rolled over them 
such a storm of horror, (See the Plate,) as reduced their courage, 
and, astonished, all resistance lost, down their idle weapons dropt, 
while o'er shields and helmets, and helmed heads, he rode ; 
thrones and powers,and mighty seraphim, prostrate on the ground 
crushed and bruised beneath his force. From the wheels, as 
they turned swift as light r there shot forth storms of iron arrows, 
while there glared on every side eyes so fierce and dreadful, as 
quailed the stoutest gaze of either good or bad, and' all the while 
voices pealed damnation, through their being. Yet half his 
strength he put not forth, but checked his thunders in mid vol- 
ley, for he meant not to annihilate, but to drive them out of hea- 
ven, down to hell, which already the divine vengeance had crea- 
ted for them, far in the bowels of boundless darkness. 

But whether such were the mode of their trial we doubt, and 
have therefore chosen another hypothesis, as before alluded to, 
in which we have supposed that their trial proceeded on a ques- 
tion respecting their creation and Creator, rather than on the 
revelation of an unknown person in company with the God 
Head, as is Milton's opinion, and many others who follow him 
on this subject. 

But to us it appears that such a revelation to the angels was 
not required, as the announcement of the Son of God among 
men to be a sacrifice for sin, could no way affect these primitive 
beings, for good or ill, but only as a subject of wonder and sur- 
prise, and cause of admiration. Yet we know it is said, Heb. i. 
6, in relation to the Son of God, " And let all the angels of God 
worship him? But we ask xohen was this said to the angels, 
and where was the Son of God when they were thus command- 
ed ? Not in heaven, for there he was never known previous to 
his incarnation, as the Son of God, having forever existed as the 
Word, or wisdom of God, but not the Son ; as it was in this life, 
among men, as born of a woman, that he was first known as a 
Son, as it was said to Mary, Luke i. 35, " that holy thing which 
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God? Shall be, 
not is now, nor was previously, but shall be so called when he 
shall be born of the woman. 

According to the phraseology of Heb. i. 6, as above quoted, it 
appears to have been a new commandment to the angels, or why 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 151 

should it have been said, that they should (future) worship him 
if they had always known him in heaven ? But the reader will 
do well here to discriminate the peculiar form of speech made 
use of in this injunction to the angels, which was, that they 
should worship him when u He (God) bringeth in the first be- 
gotten into the world f and to us is sufficient proof that the 
Son was an adapted term, suited to his incarnation, and not to 
his previous being from everlasting, the fellow of the Almighty, 
and express image of his person. On which account, we think 
Milton has failed in his imagination, in supposing that the trial 
of the angels proceeded on the ground of a revelation of the Son 
of God in heaven, as at that time no Son existed, and no need 
of such a revelation to that class of beings ; but to men prima- 
rily, and to angels secondarily on man's account. 

But respecting this great yet rebelling angel, it is said — John, 
viii. 44 — u that he abode not in the truth :" and is called by that 
Apostle, the devil, and father of all the wicked ; also, " a mur- 
derer from the beginning? But let it be remembered, that this 
account of that spirit, is Christ's ; who knew him — as he was his 
Creator, as a good angel ; and when he fell from his first condi- 
tion, and the reason or cause of that fall — on which account, he 
could give that description of him, which admits of no doubt or 
controversy ; which says that he was a murderer from the begin- 
ning. But what beginning is this, to which he alludes ? We 
answer, — the beginning of his apostacy, in heaven. But how 
was he a murderer ? This is also answered : — by his propos- 
ing and aiding a revolt among the angels of God ; which, when 
for themselves they had sanctioned, originated sin in their own 
individual natures, and was the seal of their moral death, and 
banishment from their first condition ; for which reason, he is 
called a murderer, as it was in his will to destroy the works of 
his Creator, as far as possible, or as lay withing the reach of his 
subtilty. But he abode not in the truth. Now what truth was that 
in which he did not abide ; the forsaking of which, produced so 
great a change in his nature, and state of being ? It could not 
have been the truth which God announced to Adam ; that his 
moral, as well as his natural, or animal life, depended on his 
obedience to the law he gave him, respecting the tree and its 
fruit ; as such a test, or such a law, could not have suited the 
condition of an immaterial being, such as Satan is. It is true, 
however, that this spirit contradicted to Eve, the consequences of 
which God had forewarned her, and her husband, if they 
touched the tree ; but it does not appear, that this truth had any- 
thing to do with angels ; and cannot, therefore, be said to be the 
truth, from which this fallen angel had departed ; as he had 
never been interested in it, for himself. It is easily shown that 
he was a sinning angel, previous to the transgression of Adam ; 
in the fact of his having entered into the mental organs of the 



152 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

animal called the subtilist beast of all the field, even before the 
conversation took place, between it and the woman, about that 
commandment, respecting a certain tree and its fruit. But we 
can go still further back, in showing that spirit to have been a 
rebel against God and his creation, than even the commencement 
of his temptation, to seduce our common mother, by means of the 
creature called a serpent, or k-ha-noos ; as previous to his posses- 
sing the organs of that animal, he must have willed to do this 
thing, ere he could have sought to accomplish it ; so that this 
feat performed against the soul and life of Eve, was not his first 
derilection from truth and righteousness ; it was not his first 
murderous act. 

We therefore feel perfectly at liberty now to ascend beyond the 
time of that transaction, when that evil spirit first conceived the 
ruin of the first woman, to seek for the first sin ; and the time 
when Satan forsook the abodes of truth, and became a murderer, 
a sinner, and must so remain, till sin can work its own redemp- 
tion, and annihilate its own nature — which will be when effect 
shall rise above its cause ; as we know of no atonement made 
for sinning angels, or that they can make atonement for them- 
selves. But how far back it was in the annals of eternity, when 
this and his fellow angels sinned, is not revealed in Scripture. 
There is no clue to guide in this research. All we know of it is, 
that they fell from their first estate ; and that the one called the 
devil, and Satan was present at the time of the creation of the globe 
and of the first man and woman, and stood ready to exert his pow- 
er in the ruin of our race, which is now nearly six thousand years 
since, according to Scripture chronology. As it respects the truth, 
in which he did not abide, we believe it was the virtue of reliance, 
that God was truth, or in other words, that God was God ; and 
the very error which this leading and first apostate committed, 
was the error of unbelief respecting the being of a God ; and un- 
belief is the high road to lying, as it is said of Satan that he is a 
liar, andthe/a^/ier of it, and that he sinneth from the beginning ; 
that is, from the time of his own apostacy — the beginning of sin. 
But how was it possible for him — being good, innocent, and holy 
at first — to commence to be evil ? as it is hard to conceive how a 
sweet fountain of itself, can send forth bitter water, or that which 
is pure, can begin to be otherwise, as it is hard to understand how 
a lever can have a purchase, except it have a fulcrum to rest upon. 

In answer to this, we shall show how both a lever and a ful- 
crum can grow into being together ; how sweet water may in 
the course of its flowing, grow bitter ; and how that which is 
pure can begin to become otherwise ; according to the best argu- 
ment this subject affords — as we have presumed to judge — and will 
embrace in detail the progress of the trial of the angels, and will 
ascertain the precise point where active rebellion, with its root, 
had its birth. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 153 

We have already supposed, as the reader may recollect, that 
the Divine Being did not at first reveal himself to the angels, 
which he had created, except on a gradual scale of develope- 
ment ; not in full plenitude, overwhelming their powers of cool 
investigation — as such a procedure would have prevented forever 
the made of their trial ; which was, as we believe, to progress on 
the ground of a gradual revelation, or developement of the evi- 
dence of his being, suited to the capacities and the reasoning 
powers of the angels. For if he had at once poured upon them 
an ocean of evidence — as he could have done — to prove to them 
his claims to the glory and honor of being their Creator, it would 
have been at once a state of knowledge — of absolute knowledge, 
and certainty : faith, or belief, founded on such degrees of evi- 
dence, as should excite their examination and research, and bring 
into exercise the various powers of their minds before they could 
determine, would have been driven out of the question ; a trial 
of their fealty, or free choice of his government, could not have 
taken place : so that the highest gift or qualification of their na- 
tures—which was their freedom of will — would have been ren- 
dered nugatary, as before argued ; on which account, faith, or 
belief founded on the investigation of facts, affording certain 
conclusions, would not have existed, in their case ; all would 
have been compulsion, force, and coercion ; which is not God's 
way of dealing with intelligent beings. 

But as to the peculiar mode, or manner of revealing himself to 
them after they had remained awhile in their incipient or infant 
condition, for the purpose of their having opportunity to bring 
into operation, by association, the powers of their minds, we are 
inclined to believe, was by his becoming visible, and of putting 
on the appearance and form of an angel, like one of their 
number, and mingling with them, though somewhat superior in 
majesty and splendor, by which to attract attention, and as pre- 
paratory to his claims upon their fealty to him as their God, their 
Creator and king. Of the arrival or first appearance of this be- 
ing among them, we have supposed the circumstance as follows : 
Heaven's vales, its hills, mountains and savannas were peopled 
again with the angels, after their return from their voyages of 
discovery, in the regions of space, an account of which we have 
before given ; and while employed in such ways as occupy an- 
gel minds, in groups or singly, over all heaven's empire, their at- 
tention was suddenly turned to the heights above, as there ap- 
peared in one particular direction, a light, far off, in the darkness 
which encompassed their heaven, beyond its rays. This light to 
them appeared as a bright comet would appear to us, were there 
no other lights in the firmament above, and seemed to be de- 
scending with immense velocity toward their world, while its 
rays shot sweetly over all the heavenly regions. But as it neared 
their atmosphere, they began to discern in the midst of the light 



154 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

a glorious being, from whom, as from a centre, there went out in- 
cessant streams of light, which at various distances formed a mul- 
titude of haloes round about, as so many newly born rainbows ; 
while the centre glowed with a vividness excessively bright, as 
if there was the lightning's origin. This appearance, as it drew 
nigher, began to develope the human form, or shape of angels, 
(See the Plate) whose glory seemed to lessen as it approached, 
till his splendor did not much exceed that of the two great arch- 
angels, who stood at the head of all the angelic powers ; since 
known among men as Lucifer and Michael. But soon from the 
heights above, the sound as of torrents in the sky, struck their 
hearing as rapidly he descended on the wings of power, and in 
an instant more he stood among them, as now from all parts of 
that amazing world, all the angel powers had drawn together to 
know the import of the celestial phenomenon. 

" / am that I am" (Ex. iii. 14,) the Almighty God, your 
Creator ; love, worship and obey me, — was his announcement 
in their midst, while majesty, mingled with meekness, marked 
his countenance and demeanor, while traits of boundless affec- 
tion poured from his pleased look, over all their myriads, and 
their glorious heaven. Here the first idea of their having been 
created was received ; which previously had not been conceived 
of, as we have already supposed, that the idea of creation, the 
producing something where there was nothing previously, was 
an idea equally above and beyond the power of angel conception 
as well as men ; and must therefore have been first revealed, 
and brought within the range of human and superhuman inves- 
tigation, by Him who is the author of the fact, as well as the idea 
of revelation. 

In a moment, far and wide this new doctrine, this strange 
intelligence was seized and acted upon, by these celestial legis- 
lators. Everywhere were seen congregrated seraph and sera- 
phim, orders and powers of the heavenly hosts, in deep and 
earnest debate, on the subject of this stranger's claim. The 
subject of creation, and especially of the creation of themselves, 
was new and strange, and of vast account ; because, if this per- 
sonage who had appeared among them was their Creator, then 
indeed the worship, love, and obedience of all the powers of hea- 
ven was his due, and their happiness. On which account, there 
were many who argued immediate acquiescence, and were 
urgent to hasten and freely choose him their sovereign Lord, and 
from his mouth receive law and government divine. 

Among the hosts of heaven, there was but one equalled in 
glorious dignity, power of intellect, majesty of mein, and deep 
research, that one angel now called Satan ; this was Michael, 
the arch-angel, spoken of by St. Jude. Than this one angel, 
now known as Lucifer, none had with more scrupulous, attentive, 
and profound thought, endeavored to understand the true char- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 157 

acter and subject of this stranger's claims. Face to face, he had 
beheld him, and though from the glance of his eye there shot 
forth command, which seemed to second his claims of power ; 
yet in dignity, so far as this angel could discern, did not much 
excel the falgence of his own glory and excellency of being. 
He had found him deeply expert in hard questions, such as 
angels could then ask, evincing intellectual power, even greater 
than his own, yet coupled with sweet humility, seeming more 
to seek their love than fear. But as to the subject of creation, 
this he could not understand ;- but seemed to doubt, which doubt 
he soon diffused among his followers, raising arguments against 
the possibility of the thing ; as that something could not be 
made from nothing, as many on earth have done since, holding 
matter to be eternal, and never was created, or any thing else. 

Here the war in heaven, as waged between Michael and his 
angels, and him who afterwards became Satan, and his angels, 
first began, as stated Rev. xii. 7, as follows: "And there was 
war in heaven ; Michael and his angels fought against the drag- 
on, and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not, 
neither was .there place found any more in heaven. And the 
great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and 
Satan, wrnch deceiveth the whole world." This is too explicit 
personal, and particular, to be doubted of in its application (as we 
shall show in another place toward the end of the work) in rela- 
tion to the war in heaven ; but not a war of arms, or of sword 
and spear, with pomp and martial array, as Milton has it ; but 
a war of words, a contest of doctrine, of sentiment, and of argu- 
ment, among the celestial powers, in which was employed all 
the talent, the eloquence and tact, angelic natures were then capa- 
ble of. The great question was : is creation possible, is this our 
God and Creator? which it seems divided their numbers ; some 
holding with Michael, that he ivas, as no duplicity, or sign of 
impotency had appeared in his ways, and withal, so sweet an 
attraction came over their spirits, adding a degree of joy when 
they met his eye, which never till then had been known in hea- 
ven. But those who took a contrary position in that field of 
trial, did not do so from malice, (as such a disposition would have 
shown them wicked in their very nature, and thus created,) but 
from innocent caution, lest ere long, it might appear to their 
universal mortification, that they had been too hasty, and too 
credulous, not having canvassed sufficiently close so important 
a subject. On this account they withheld their worship, till 
their doubts might be dissolved ; while the others, with Michael 
at their head, with songs and hallelujahs poured round his glo- 
rious person, and freely expressed their joy, and hailed him king 
of heaven. At such a sight as this, those who had demurred from 
mere caution, instead of quietly waiting till further evidence of 
the stranger's claims should be given ; conceived a degree of sur. 



158 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

prise toward their brother angels, because they had so soon made 
him supreme ; imagining that theyhad there by poured contempt 
upon themselves and all angelic existences. Debate now fol- 
lowed debate, in all the force and form of sober argumentation, 
pouring from the lips of celestial orators ; each urging his views 
with honest zeal, not doubting on either side but they were right. 
Michael and his angels, as opposed to him who became Satan, 
maintained the stranger's right to the kingdom, by virtue of the 
eternity of his being, and also because he possessed the power to 
create, and from the fact that he had created them all ; urging 
the vast amount of ingratitude they should be guilty of, if they 
did not all so receive him. To whom the opposing angels (but 
yet innocent of sin, as an error of judgment is not sin, till the 
will becomes enlisted, and sanctions that error,) replied : if, in- 
deed, we were sure that this character is above us, and is the 
cause of our being, it were right that we receive him as our head, 
and to crown him Lord of all, as thou hast already done. 

But I demur that we were created at all, as the thing itself to 
me and those who think with me, is believed to be impossible. 
Who among us can remember when this heaven was made, or 
when ourselves commenced to be. We know no time when we 
were not as now, and this sweet world our dwelling. Who were 
before us? If none, are we not eternal therefore, and uncaused, 
not having been created, and owe homage to none ; yet are will- 
ling to practice heavenly courtesy ; as worth shall claim, as each 
our dues from all, on which account, to me and thee, the highest 
honors belong, as the heads of all these powers, unless this one 
shall excel. The hasty crowning of this stranger therefore seems a 
rebellion against our own natures and dignity of being. If then we 
were not created, as I with these ten thousands do not as yet believe, 
— it then appears at once, that this, though glorious being, who is 
much like ourselves, and doubtless — when the truth shall be 
known — is but one of our own number, who has hit on this 
experiment, merely to try us, whether we will be true to our own 
natures, or will easily relinquish our state and power to another, 
and a superior — were there any such in being. If we cannot 
remember when we commenced to be ; nor when this heaven 
was made ; is it not an argument that our being is underived, 
and Creation — as thou callest it — is but a chimera, a word, a 
name, which has no meaning ; and in consequence, a Creator 
does not exist, but in fancy only : we are, therefore, underived, 
uncaused, and exist of necessity, not by our own, or the exertions 
of any other being. 

But to this, Michael replied — while all heaven, both his own, 
and the opposing angels, listened — who said : that a concentra- 
tion of truth and perfection must be found somewhere in an 
unlimited degree, consisting in power, knowledge, wisdom, eter- 
nity, goodness, and omniscience ; must be somewhere ascertained 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 159 

in the aggregate, as they do not exist in us as parts, or as a whole. 
Thou nor me, do not certainly know that there is no Creator ; 
which proves us ignorant, and admits of the possibility of such 
an existence, for aught we know to the contrary. There can be 
but one such concentration of all truth, knowledge, goodness, 
wisdom, power, eternity, and omniscience ; but one eternal, self- 
existent being, who never did begin to be, but exists of necessity ; 
it being impossible for him not to exist ; and that, from everlas- 
ting to everlasting, the same, filling* unbounded space, perfectly 
infinite in all his attributes. And for this very reason, a multi- 
tude^ as thou knowest we are, cannot be self existent, as there is 
no conceivable room for but one such being. A multitude of 
beings supposed to possess such attributes as above, in an unlim- 
ited measure, is therefore an absurdity. As for ourselves, we 
feel that we do not know all things, — have not all power, or 
this argument and strife of opinion could not have arisen among, 
us, as all doubt is extinct, where all knowledge is present. We 
have, therefore, a Creator, as we feel ourselves not infinite in 
any sense, and this is he, to whom we advise immediate submis- 
sion and worship, before this error of judgment shall come to be 
sanctioned by your wills, and obstinacy of feeling ; when all will 
be lost, as that will be sin ; which as yet is unborn, and has no 
being, nor can have, till thou, or some other shall, with the will, 
set up their own judgment, as a standard, in opposition to any 
and all other power, and determine on rebellion against him, who 
myself and these, in number more than thy myriads, deem our 
God, King and Creator. 

That he whom thou stylest God, and king, rejoined Lucifer, 
the opposing angel, is a Creator, and created us, I still demur j 
and till more evidence, and of a more convincing kind, shall be 
produced, on which to build so strong a faith as thine, myself, 
and all those who hold with me, shall refuse him worship, and 
doubt both the existence of Creator and created. But notwith- 
standing this opposition to the opinions of Michael and his fol- 
lowers, yet it was not sin ; this monster was not yet brought 
forth ; yet they were in deep perplexity, whether the claims of 
this stranger should or should not receive their consent. Neither 
were the other angels without their perplexities, as a state of 
trial, or probation, most certainly supposes, and must involve in 
it some such thing as belief, confidence, or credit, arising out of 
a dispensation of evidence. But belief, confidence, or credit, is 
far from being a state of absolute knowledge ; as knowledge ex- 
cludes belief, by reason of its going beyond, or by carrying the 
principle of belief forward, till it ripens into knowledge so sure 
and palpable, as not to require the aid of evidence ; as evidence 
producing belief, confidence, &c, are all absorbed in knoioeldge, 
where faith, belief, credit, and trial cease, and certainty ensues. 

But though the angels who stood out their time of trial, and 
10 



100 H1STORT 07 THS FALLKH 

passed that rubicon of heaven, and consequently become con- 
firmed in their state of happiness, so as no more to be liable 
to fall, had, during their probation, been perplexed in relation 
to their course, does not, therefore, argue the presence of sin, 
no more nor less than the perplexities of those who fell, till 
the time their wills seconded their error of judgment. There 
can be no doubt but Abraham had his perplexities, when God 
commanded him to kill his son ; yet his faith, his confidence 
and trust in God, carried him through, till knowledge sup- 
plied the reason of that command ; yet furnishes no argument 
that moral evil was in the mind of Abraham on that account. 
Are not the providences of God over this world, in many res- 
pects hidden and mysterious, so that even the minds of the 
just and pious, are exceedingly perplexed, but is no argument 
of sin in them, but of their imperfection in knowledge only. 
We do not suppose that the investigation of subjects even 
now among the angels, which employs their powers, supposes 
*tn, or moral imbecility, present or even possible on that 
account. Wherefore we arrive at the conclusion, that the 
angels who fell, did not sin during the time of their trial, but 
at the very end of it, as the moment sin was committed by 
them, their trial ended, their fall was complete, as much so 
as the fall of a stone toward the centre, which is suspended 
hy a cord, is complete when that cord is cut asunder. 

The reader will recollect, that a little above, the opposing 
angel Lucifer, who resisted Michael in the argument, and is 
now known among men as Satan, that he still doubted the 
doctrine of both a Creator and creation, and that he should 
continue to doubt, till more evidence should appear to justify 
so strong a faith. This speech did not pass unheeded of the 
Eternal ear, and as it was according to his plan of their trial, 
namely, to give sufficient evidence of his claims, he soon, by 
acclamation, caused it to be announced over all the plains 
of heaven, whither in this debate they were spread ; that the 
sovereign will was about to give such farther evidence of the 
righteousness of his claim of being God over all, as should be 
sufficient to satisfy the most wary among all the hosts of heav- 
en, on the great subject which had thus divided them in their 
opinions, but not as yet in their affections. This said, they ceas- 
ed from war, a war in which the powers of heaven had put forth 
their utmost in debate, more than human genius can devise ; to 
learn what more might now ensue, in confirmation or in de- 
duction from the claims of either party, of holding the truth. 
This done, there suddenly appeared in the all surrounding 
darkness, that lay beyond the light of heaven, which was shut 
in on every side, like a diamond in a dungeon, a rim of light 
passing wholly around heaven's circumference, at a vast dis- 



ANGELS OF THS SCRIPTURES. 163 

tance, appearing to the angels much as the milky way does 
now to mortals. (See the plate.) This phenomenon threw 
all the angelic hosts into astonishment, both those who doubt- 
ed and those who doubted not, as this appearance was entirely 
beyond their knowledge. 

This strange and new appearance had occupied their atten- 
tion and wonder but a short space, when millions of the bright 
beings of heaven, sprang on light yet rapid wings, in every 
direction from this great nucleus of creation, toward the rim 
of light which so suddenly had thrown its blush over so im- 
mense a tract of ancient space, the home and empire of 
uncreated night. This sparkling, though when first discov- 
ered, appeared as nearly amalgamated, they found on near 
approach to be derived from a countless number of suns, of 
various magnitudes, situated at various and vast distances 
from each other ; around which there were moving many 
brilliant stars, in immense orbits, with speed inconceivable, 
circles within circles, as about a centre, held and balanced in 
their courses by two mysterious principles, since called 
attraction and repulsion. These, on a still nearer approach, 
they found were worlds, clothed with all manner of verdure, 
pleasant to the sight ; adorned with oceans, rivers, springs 
and fountains of water, surrounded by atmospheres, tempered 
with aqueous particles, mingled with light and the winds of 
heaven, in which there flew all manner of fowls, whose songs 
and feathery millions filled with life and animation the track- 
less fields of ether surrounding them. There oceans, lakes, 
rivers, and fountains of water, with all springs, were full of 
all manner of life, in the form of animals, both great and small ; 
while there also appeared on the dry land, various beasts, 
huge and diminutive ; but more extraordinary far, than all the 
rest, there was seen walking erect, with majesty of mein, on 
every globe, two, as monarchs of all the rest, creatures of 
upright form, with faces of human mould, beaming with the 
graces of high intellectual character, having a striking like- 
ness and image of him who claimed to be the great Creator 
in heaven ; these were the Adams and Eves of every globe 
of the universe, then created, which was long before the exis- 
tence of the. system on which we live. 

But passing on from these, downwards to the centres of 
systems, which were all suns, giving light to the various fam- 
ilies of the worlds of the Universe : these they also found 
to be globes of earth, or of opake matter, of huge dimensions, 
exceeding by millions, in bulk, the size of any one individual 
globe ; whose orbs swept the great circles of their Zodiacs, 
embellished in all respects as the others ; with seas, rivers, 
and fountains of waters ; with animals, fowls and fishes ; And 



164 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

man, with his consort, crowning the whole with intellectual 
heads. The immensity of light — the suns, which as so many 
oceans of fire, flaming out to all worlds — they found to be 
nothing more than their own luminous atmosphere ; so consti- 
tuted by the Creator, as to give off perpetual confiscations ; 
not only for the purpose of enlightening. other worlds, but 
their own surfaces beneath, by the refraction of their own 
rays. This arrangement however, was found of no manner 
of inconvenience to their inhabitants, of either man or ani- 
mals, as there went up at certain hours of time, a dense and 
humid mist, which extending over their whole surface, sha- 
ded with a grateful twilight those regions beneath ; so that 
there, as in other globes, was an interchange of day and night, 
taking place in perpetual succession. The planets — as they 
are called — or worlds of earth— the families of the suns — 
they found to shine by borrowed light, received in their at- 
mospheres, and on the face of the waters and the polar snows ; 
and thus as they turned on their axles, maintained through 
all their numbers, as they fled through space, and revolving 
by systems, not only round their suns, their respective cen- 
tres, but suns and all round heaven, the home and origin of 
intellect, and doubtless, the grand centre of all revolving mat- 
ter, as well as of all happiness. 

Such, the scouting angels found the rim of light to be, 
when swift as thought, they returned to heaven ; and as most 
natural, it was supposed that those who had doubted would 
now be satisfied, that the stranger was indeed their God and 
Maker, and would hasten to offer him love and worship. But 
not so, as now, their leader saw him ascending in the very 
midst of heaven, a mountain of light, which till then, none had 
seen, which was vast and high, pure as crystal, whereon was 
set a throne of exceeding majesty, with steps of beryl, befrin- 
ged with light ; while on either hand there ministered ten 
thousand times ten thousand spirits of heaven, while he sat 
down on his throne — the seat of the ancient of days — who all 
the while had been in their midst, but invisible, yet knowing 
all their thoughts and ways. He smiled upon the militant 
liosts, and all heaven leapt for joy in return; each hill and 
dale, with savannas broad, and every silver flood, with all 
flowers and blooming groves sent forth sounds — voices new 
and sweet, to celebrate the glories of the king of heaven. 
Now, was the time but short, for those who had differed with 
Michael, to have renounced their error of judgment, not their 
sin, for heaven is just, and gives to all, both angels and men, 
a time of retrieving power, according as their light and circum- 
stances may be. Now was the time when this mighty angel, 
who had led on the powers, hierarchs, and orders beneath 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. * 165 

him in this great debate ; when they, with joy, with all his 
hosts, shouldhave freely admitted as the others had done, the 
glorious Being on the throne to be the Creator, all blessed 
forever more ; as the amount of evidence which Lucifer had 
required, had now been given. But instead of this, he with 
all his company, that moment, seconded their error of opinion 
by their wills ; when there arose in their minds, a deathless 
hatred against the eternal king — as they thought themselves 
impaired or injured. All now was lost ; as the immaculate 
image of the great Creator had forsaken their moral being — 
which was their innocence ; and as no mediator could be ad- 
mitted, they having sinned wilfully, and in so high a grade of 
being and privilege, they were lost to all recovery, and that 
without end. 

But we do not believe, as before remarked on this subject, 
that an inkling of penalty and suffering, or retrenchment of 
glory, and dignity of being, had crossed their minds ; as penal 
law, to restrain beings so high, and so near the throne of 
heaven, would have been unfit and absurd ; as affection free- 
ly bestowed, on the ground of sufficient evidence, that he 
who claimed at their hand, this proof of fealty, was all he 
could consistently receive or admit. 

Here the first sin was perpetrated ; here its foundation and 
origin is discovered : here damnation was born : here the in- 
cipient principle, pioneer, and forerunner of all moral derilec- 
tion sprang up : here one of the only two of the highest of 
angelic orders, was in an instant changed from a state of inno- 
cence, and great glory, to a devil — foul and hideous, full of 
all evil — a loathsome spirit, in the sight of all heaven, and of 
his own associates, who were also fallen — who in their fall 
took natures exactly opposite in all respects, to their former 
condition ; ^s was but natural they should do. 

This is the precise point, or period — however far back it 
may have been in past eternity — when that horrible eclipse 
of sin was first seen rising over the moral disc of heaven, far 
in the sides of the north ; where Lucifer, or the light-bringer 
had by the Divine appointment, his realm of happiness; with 
all those angels classed beneath his supervision. 

That was the time and place, when and where that eleva- 
ted being by his own will changed himself from a holy, happy 
being, to one equally unholy and unhappy ; and will thus 
remain, till wickedness can work its own cure, and annihilate 
its own cause ; unless it can be shown from the Scripture 
that a ransom has been found which can satisfy the severity 
of justice, as a principle ; as in the case of man. 

Of the mediator of the human race, Jesus Christ, it is said 
that he took not upon him the nature of angels, either good 



166 BISTORT OF THE FALLEN 

or bad, but the nature of man, his fallen propensities excep- 
ted ; by which we at once discover that his mediation and 
atonement has done nothing for that class of delinquents call- 
ed fallen angels : how, therefore, can they be finally saved, 
as is believed by Restorationists ? 

To enquire what the will is, in human or superhuman 
minds, were doubtless, a useless task, as it is far beyond 
mortal research, or any, and all the first principles of nature ; 
such as gravitation, matter, life, hearing, seeing, smelling, 
tasting, and feeling. What these are in their essences, can be 
known only to Him who created them : — so with the will; it 
is an indefinable principle, yet a property of all intellectual 
being, and is the principle by which all free agents are enabled 
to be virtuous, or otherwise ; and on which account, respon- 
sibility to Him who made us all, is ascertained. To say 
therefore, that the will caused him to sin, is saying just noth- 
ing at all; as this very will is the sinner itself; — as the will 
sins, in willing contrary to knowledge, and understanding, 
that which is not right, or in order with the moral harmony of 
God's Universe. If we suppose anv principle whatever, so 
powerful as to irresistably influence the will ; then will is no 
longer will, and can act only as it is acted upon ; or in other 
words, doe3 not act at all. In this way, it were not a hard 
matter, to trace the cause of sin up to God ; inasmuch as it 
was he who put the angels on trial — -gave them this power of 
will, with all their other powers : as knowledge, understand- 
ing and ability of enjoyment : and if we conceive of him as ex- 
erting an irresrstable and controlling influence over this will, 
then that which is supposed to be sin, is no sin ; as on such 
an hypothesis, sin was brought into being by his own procur- 
ing and design ; which cannot be, and which all men with 
abhorence reject. But if we can admit the creation of beings 
possible with God — who can be endowed with this principle, 
independent in its operations, having power to will even mor- 
al evil, and disobedience to God; we then ascertain, that with 
that same will, he could, and should have submitted to the 
force of evidence, as did the other angels ; but he would not. 
Now if we continue to enquire : — why would not that spirit 
yield to the force of evidence, as the others did? — we can 
only reply, that he would not — as any deviation from this 
position, furnishes a cause, and at once would be both his, 
and all the fallen spirits of hell's apology for sin, as well also 
as of all the sinners of the globe ; an apology which the equi- 
ty of heaven, and heaven's Eternal King, could not disregard 
or turn aside. 

But as already remarked, it cannot be admitted that Satan, 
with all who fell with him, had entertained the least glimpse 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES, 167 

of the penal consequences which would follow on their act of 
sin and rebellion : for it is altogether consistent to suppose, 
that such a consequence should have been concealed from 
their knowledge, as the high state in which they were created, 
could not admit of revealed penalties, as their acts must not 
be influenced by any coercion, or allusions to coercion, pun- 
ishment or reward ; love, and love alone, must have been 
their only inducement to obedience. Their state of trial, in 
distinction from that of Adam's, could not admit of either pro- 
mise or threat, as all their acts must arise out of their will, 
carried into operation by their free agency, which two powers 
are never separated. This is doubtless the reason why no 
redemption is possible in their case, as in the case of man ; 
as the sin of Satan and his angels was of a more aggravated 
nature than that of the woman's, not being in any way misled 
or deceived ; or as Adam, who for the sake of his wife, en- 
tered into her condemnation, not being willing to be separated 
from her in her distress, yet by no means desiring to disobey 
God. But at the moment when the lost angels had made 
their last resolve not to accept of a Creator then on the 
throne ; there shot through their natures, as the flash of a 
thunderbolt, all the constituent passions and powers which 
constitute the nature of devils ; hatred, unconquerable hatred, 
that moment began to writhe within them, against God, 
and all his works. On this account, they instantly rallied 
around their great leader, in motion to depart to that region 
or province of heaven, which they considered their own ; as 
the presence of God, and the angels who had not fallen, was 
now insufferably disagreeable ; where they would build for 
themselves habitations of splendor and happiness, in a state 
of independence, with their chief, as sovereign king and lord ; 
but were prevented, by being driven out of heaven, toward 
hell, their future and final home. Thus we think we have 
shown how Lucifer became Satan, or the devil, and how the 
angels who kept not their first estate, departed from it, and why 
they were cast down to hell, or thitherward, where they will 
be finally sent at the day of judgment. 



Respecting Lucifer, Son of the Morning, who and what he 
was, as mentioned by Isaiah the Prophet. 

Of some such occurrence as the fall of the angels, having 
taken place in the world of spirits, there seems to be an allu- 
sion in the book of Isaiah, chap, xiv., as follows ; " Lucifer, 



168 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

son of the morning, how art thou cut down to the ground, who 
did weaken the nations ; for thou hast said in thy heart, I will 
ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of 
God ; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the 
sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 
I will be like the Most High." Although there can be no doubt 
but this was spoken literally of Nebuchadnezzar, one of the kings 
of ancient Chaldea, who flourished about six hundred years B. C, 
in whose time the Chaldean empire had became very large and 
powerful, comprehending Chaldea, Assyria, Arabia, Syria and 
Palestine, reaching even to India. It is probable this monarch, 
in the greatness of his pride and kingly ambition, had desired in 
his heart, and probably expressed to his confidants, his intention 
of bringing all the nations of Africa and Asia, to pay homage to 
his crown, and to be subject to his rule, for the glory of great 
Babylon, the most splendid and the mos* populous, as well as the 
largest walled city of the globe, either before or since that time, 
being fifteen miles square, and sixty in circumference. 

But notwithstanding the insatiate desires, and the achieve- 
ments of this mortal, we cannot but think that Isaiah has used 
language and figures too strong and foreign to the fact ; unless 
there is a reference in this description, to the desires and plans 
of Satan after his fall, as well as to Nebuchadnezzar, the mortal 
type of that immortal rebel against Cod and all his works. Can 
such language as here follows, be seriously applied to the doings 
of any mere man, « I will ascend above the heights of the 
clouds, I will be like the Most High;" a thing impossible 
for a man even to think of, if his ideas of the Most High are as 
exalted as the description the Jewish Scriptures give of him. 
But if we apply this language to the apostacy of that rebel angel, 
who by his rebellion became a devil ; then such a description, 
couched in the strong and majestic words of inspiration, are not 
improperly descriptive ; but portrays the ambition of this Lucifer, 
son of the morning, and his attempt to fight against God, and to 
ascend the mount of the congregation, in heaven, and to be like 
the Most High, nothing doubting but he could do it. That this 
king should be called in Scripture, Lucifer, and also son of the 
morning, which is the same as morning star, or in other words 
light bringer, is very singular, as his name was Nebuchadnez- 
zar ; the meaning of which, in the Chaldean language, was tears 
and groans of judgment; very different indeed, both in sound 
and meaning, from that of Lucifer, or light bringer. But if we 
understand this description, as given by Isaiah, literally of the 
man Nebuchadnezzar, and spiritually of Satan, or Lucifer, and 
of his fall from his first estate in heaven, then we perceive a pro- 
priety in his being called Lucifer, Son of the Morning, Light 
Bringer, &c. For if he was one of the two highest angels which 
God had made, it might well be said of him, that he was a light 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES, 169 

bringer, on account of his immense intellectual abilities; in 
which he was an expression of the divine mind, and a manifes- 
tation of his power to produce beings of this description, having the 
light of godlike intellect, and in this respect was a light bringer. 
Of such a being, it might well be said : O Lucifer, light bringer, 
how art thou fallen from heaven, son of the morning, or of the 
first creation ; for thou hast said, I will ascend into heaven, I 
will exalt my throne above the stars of God, (the angels,) I will 
sit upon the mount of the congregation (of angels) in the sides of 
the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, (even 
heaven's glory,) I will be like the Most High, (if not above him ;) 
which disposition he still retains, as is said of him in the New 
Testament, "the devil sinneth from the beginning." 

As before expressed, we have no doubt that his sin was com- 
menced at the very moment when he conceived resistance to the 
claims of God to the love and obedience of the spirits which he 
had made, and was the act of his own free will. On having 
found his views were wrong, and that his judgment was not 
infallible, he conceived on the instant, hatred to his great oppo- 
nent, the Creator, with meditated revenge, the natural offspring 
of hatred ; which disposition, in the twinkling of an eye, forever 
confirmed him, with all those who had sanctioned his ways, in 
a state of deathless opposition to all good. And such was their 
condition, so high, and so encompassed with light, which they 
at that fatal moment dared to despise, that retraction and repent- 
ance became impossible ; and never from that moment have they 
felt repentant emotions, nor ever will to all eternity. So deep 
and so remedyless is their fall, that still they feel a horrid satis- 
faction in the enmity of their natures, against the Divine Being 
and all his works. But could these fallen angels have exercised 
a moment before their first sin, any other feeling than that of 
hatred and rebellion, on finding themselves mistaken in their 
opinions ? most certainly they could, as their natures were, the 
moment previous, unbiassed to sin, and might therefore, both on 
that account and the account of their free agency, have rejoiced 
to find their error corrected ; but instead of doing this, they willed 
at that moment an eternal opposition to God, when unbounded 
rage took possession of their natures, which from that time has 
never subsided nor ever can. At that instant, the divine support, 
which had brought them into being, and from whom their orig- 
inal innocence and holiness was derived, became forfeit, beyond 
the power of consistent redemption. If it be admitted for a 
moment, that they could not have exercised other feelings and 
dispositions than they did, then in that same moment we admit 
that they could not help their fall ; if so, then they were not to 
blame, and of course are not fallen, have not sinned, as it is not 
for the things we cannot, but for the things we can do, yet do 

11 



170 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

not, that the Supreme Being calls his creatures to an account. 
The angels were as free to fall, as to stand, being in no way 
necessiated or misled, as there was no darkness or doubt at the 
lime, on the subject of law by which they were tried, as the 
evidence of the fact, which they had disputed, was then abun- 
dant, even to their own understandings. It was, therefore, their 
own act, abstractedly so, or it was not theirs at all. But at that 
instant, every good quality forsook them, of necessity ; as much 
so as a golden vessel rilled with the pure waters of a pure foun- 
tain, is changed, every particle and atom thereof; if but a grain 
of coloring substance, or of poison, be cast therein, it is destroyed 
of its first purity. So with those pure spirits ; love became 
hatred, humility became pride, good will became malice, eternal 
life became eternal death, joy and happiness became anguish and 
misery, free agency and free will became fate ; so that they are 
necessitated to remain, unwilling to will anything but enmity to 
God. Anticipation of a perpetuity of happiness, became a fear- 
ful looking for, of fiery indignation and judgment to come, to be 
poured out upon them. Confidence in their own uprightness 
became dastardly fear; and knowledge, with every high ability 
of their intellectual natures, was prostituted and perverted to the 
ways and wiles of devils, taking in all things, the exact opposite 
of order, peace, and happiness. 

There is a line of demarkation, which pervades all first prin- 
ciples, whether of morals, politics, or physics, beyond which, if a 
man proceed he cannot return. If in physics, a man place him- 
self, by design or accident, within the suck of the falls of Niagara, 
who can redeem him. If in politics, a man forfeit all the rights 
of human society, he is cast forth as an outlaw or a victim ; who 
can redeem him? Why not, therefore, much more so in morals, 
as the higher we ascend, the more and the greater the responsi- 
bility ? The line of demarkation once passed over here, as in the 
other cases, cannot be retraced; beyond which, even mercy 
itself cannot go, except at the expense of justice. How then was 
Adam and Eve redeemed, it may be inquired, who had passed, 
as supposed, the line of demarkation ? but this we do not admit, 
was the final line of demarkation with them ; as we see mercy 
was extended to them, in the promised seed, as in the atonement ; 
which was not contrary to, nor inconsistent with divine justice, 
or it could never have taken place. Yet in man's case there is 
such a line of demarkation, and it is arrived at and passed, when 
a redeemed human being has despised or neglected his last and 
only hope, the opportunity of grace in this life. As it is said in 
Heb. ii. 2, 3, " For if the word spoken by angels (in the giv- 
ing of the law) was steadfast, and every transgression and diso- 
bedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we 
escape, if we neglect so great salvation." The account which 
is given of the fall of the angels in the New Testament, is that 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 171 

" they kept not their first estate ;" which, if true, proves that 
they left it, which also proves that with or by the same power they 
left it, they could have also kept it till this time, and forever. 



What became of the Angels after their Fall; is there a 
Hell or not in another World ? and is there yet to be a Day 
of particular and general Judgment ? with further Proofs 
of the existence of a Devil. 

Thus far we have pursued the above subject, and think we 
have shown how a part of the first angels became evil spirits, or 
devils, and on what principle sin had its beginning ; by which 
procedure we have cleared the Divine Being from the charge of 
being the cause of sin ; and more than this, that he could not 
even have prevented it, unless he would have destroyed free 
agency and free will out of their natures ; which had he done, 
would have been inconsistent. Our next inquiry, therefore, will 
be to ascertain what became of those fallen angels after their 
apostacy and loss of heaven. Concerning this, it is said 2d Peter, 
ii. 4, that " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them 
down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be 
reserved unto judgment," or to the judgment of the great day. 

Now were we to believe on this subject as do Universalists. 
namely, that there never were any such angels or beings, who 
fell from a first condition of happiness ; who God would not 
spare, but cast down to hell, we should save ourselves the trou- 
ble of this enquiry ; as there could be no hell to cast them into ; 
for if such angels do not exist, a hell for them cannot be found 
of course. But the passage states that those angels were not 
only cast down to hell, but that they are under chains of dark- 
ness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. See St. Jude, vi. 
" And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their 
own habitations, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under 
darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." The orthodox 
sects believe that Satan, who tempted Eve in the garden, and 
Christ in the wilderness, was the same evil being whom Christ 
calls the prince of this world — see John, xiv. 30 — who came to 
him, and found nothing in him, just before his death on the cross. 
But Balfour believes, that this prince was the civil and ecclesi- 
astical powers, consisting of the Romans as the civil power, and 
of the Jewish doctors of their law, as the ecclesiastical power. 
But we would ask, in the name of logic, how two powers, so 
opposite in nature, object, aim, and origin, as were the imperious 
heathen Romans, the conquerors of the Jews, and the ministers 



172 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

of the Jewish religion, which was of God, can be considered as 
consolidated, so as to be spoken of as one prince, and as coming 
to Christ, and finding nothing in him to suit his purpose. The 
Romans, in the crucifiction of Christ, acted somewhat passively, 
as they did it in compliance with the wishes of the wicked Jews, 
and the mob which had come together on that occasion, and not 
of their own wish and prosecution ; therefore, the whole affair 
is to be resolved into the act of the Sanhedrim, or court of Jewish 
Elders. If so, how are the Jews to be reckoned as the prince of 
this world ; even allowing Judea to have been solely meant by 
the word world, seeing they were not then the ruling power, as 
even the privilege to keep up their religion, was by the clemency 
of the Roman Emperor, and could not therefore have any claim 
to the word prince. But if it be insisted, that this prince who 
came to our Lord, and found nothing in him, was the Roman 
authorities, urged on by the Jews, how is it said of him as in 
John, xii. 31," " Now is the judgment of this world, now is the 
prince of this world cast out ;" as the Romans were not cast out 
of their dominion of Judea, nor of their other provinces, till many 
ages thereafter ; which should have been done at that very time, 
if that prince was the Roman power. That the Jews were cast 
out some forty years after that time, by these very Romans, has 
nothing to do with the case ; because it cannot be shown that 
the terms prince of this world, is applicable to their then situa- 
tion, having been for more than thirty years from that very time 
back, despoiled of their civil power by the Romans, and had been 
and then were, governed by the emperor's substitutes, the Herods. 
It follows, therefore, that this prince, who came to Christ, and 
found nothing in him which was corrupt, was the devil, that 
fallen angel : who with his associate angels, were then bound 
under chains of moral darkness, and reserved unto the judgment 
of the great day, as said by St. Jude, when they are to be cast 
into hell, which it is said was prepared for the devil and his 
angels. But if it be said that this devil and his angels were the 
evil principle of sin, and the superstition of the ancient heathen ; 
how is it that they have been cast out, and what is the hell into 
which they have been cast ? seeing that even to this day, those 
nations remain the same, and have so remained, with the excep- 
tion of here and there a Christian society, which appeared for a 
little time and then vanished away. If it be said that the whole 
Roman empire, in the days of Constantine, became Christianized, 
and that thus those angels of evil were cast down, or out of their 
places of power ; yet we do not allow that true religion gained 
anything in the world by that occurrence, as from that founda- 
tion, and from that period, the Roman Catholic heresy sprang 
up, which has tormented the human race ever since. 

But if it be insisted that this was the fall of the angels, we ask 
what then was the hell into which they were cast, and what 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 173 

were the chains of darkness under which they were confined, and 
what is the judgment of the great day to which they were refert 
ed? Surely, it will not be said that the Romans being compelled -o 
favor Christianity, and her doctrines being taught at first pure in 
the ancient temples of their gods, was the hell into which they 
were cast ; nor was this circumstance, those chains of darkness, 
nor the judgment of the great day, for which they had been so 
long reserved — as spoken of by St. Peter and St. Jude. This 
national conversion, though it is likely but few in heart, and in 
truth, were individually converted, must have been the hell spo- 
ken of, by those writers in the New Testament ; as there is no 
other way of interpretation, but that of the orthodox sects, 
remaining, for our belief. 

If the fact, stated in that saying of our Lord, namely — John 
xii. 31 — " Now is the judgment of this world ; now shall the 
prince of this world be cast out," is believed to have meant the 
devil, that fallen angel, then the matter stands thus by way of 
interpretation : — Christ was about to permit the sacrifice of his 
own soul and body, for the sin of the world ; and by that means 
to fulfil all promises, all covenants, and prophecies, respecting 
himself, and to open a way by which the ruined souls of the hu- 
man race might be restored, and fitted for the enjoyment of God ; 
and thus counteract the machinations of the devil, by laying the 
foundation of that train of things which is to result in the casting 
out of the prince of this world — the devil — and total destruction 
of his power in the earth. With this view, it might well be said, 
that " now is the judgment of this world ; now shall the prince 
of this world be cast out." 

But as to the idea of a hell, Universalists have found out that 
there is no other hell than the grave, temporal sorrows, and the 
guilty or troubled consciences of bad men, in this life ; yet much 
is said in the Scriptures of such a place, and that the wicked shall 
go thither ; which if it were in the conscience only, the distance 
were but short ; and as all the world being guilty before God, are 
even now, and ever have been in hell, and hell in them : on 
which account there is no distance at all, as every man has it 
ever with him ; as all are wicked according to those people's 
views, and always will be in this life, and were even made in 
hell at first, as Adam and Eve had their lusts, and lust is sin, and 
sin is guilt, and guilt is in the conscience, and a guilty conscience 
is a Universalist's hell ; Adam and Eve, of course, were made in 
it, and all their children were born in it, out of which they never 
can get, only by dying and descending to the grave. Sin, there- 
fore, is all the Saviour there is ; for if sin had not come into the 
world, men would not die, as death of all kinds came by sin ; 
and if men had not died, and were not still to die, they never 
could get out of this hell, as they never could die, — so glory to 
sin, and death for salvation, from the lusts of Adam and Eve, 



174 .. HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

before they fell ; a most wonderful philosophy this, a cause des- 
troyed by its own effect. 

No man will contend that those sinning angels, whatever they 
were, were cast down, or into the grave, as that is but the com- 
mon receptacle of all the human race, both the good, as well as 
the bad, and therefore, can never be thought of as a place of pun- 
ishment, or a hell for the wicked ; neither is it very philosophical 
to contend that they were cast down to a guilty conscience, as 
they must have had this within them, before they started. But 
St. Peter is very explicit in stating that those angels who sinned, 
were cast down to hell, and are reserved unto the judgment ; and 
St. Jude says, unto the judgment of the great day, — which we 
have shown, could not have been the subversion of the Roman 
heathen powers to Christianity : a guilty conscience : the grave : 
nor yet the destruction of the Jews by the Romans: — there 
remains, therefore, but one other idea of solution, — and this is, 
there is a hell in eternity, prepared for fallen angels, and finally 
wicked and impenitent men. 

But before we proceed further in this subject, we deem it prop- 
er to clear up a seeming difficulty, with respect to the place to 
which those fallen angels were sent, by the power that expelled 
them from heaven. 

This difficulty is found in Revelations xii. 7, 8, 9 — as follows : 
« And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought 
against the dragon : and the dragon fought and his angels, and 
prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. 
And the great dragon was cast out — that old serpent, called the 
devil — and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world : He was 
cast out into the earth ; and his angels were cast out with him." 

This statement is exceedingly clear, respecting the existence 
of such a being as the devil, and his angels, and of their being 
expelled from a happy condition called heaven ; yet it does not 
state that they were cast down to hell ; as does St. Peter, St. Jude, 
and St. Matthew, but « into the earth" Is the earth hell therefore? 
No, and we explain it as follows : At the time when the angels 
first sinned, God cast them off, by withholding his favor, which 
shut them out from all happiness ; and in addition to this, it 
appears, as we shall show, in the course of our remarks, that he 
created somewhere in boundless space, a place, or location of fire, 
and called it hell ; designed for the final state, and place of pun- 
ishment for those angels, and all who assimilate themselves to 
their characters ; but as yet, are not confined there, having the 
liberty — for reasons known to God — to dwell on and in the earth, 
and in the air, — though to mortals invisible, and doubtless in 
other worlds also. 

But how is it that it is said, they were cast down to hell, if 
they are found in the earth ? Surely this globe is not that hell 
spoken of, as it is not a world of fire : it is because they were 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 175 

cast thitherward; having fitted themselves for such a place: 
and because, in the determination of God, they were decreed to 
that end and place, not from all eternity, but at the time of their 
sin, and are now actually descending to that doom, inasmuch as 
the fixed time draws nigher and nigher when it shall be done. 
It was not, therefore, improper for the apostles, in speaking of 
this thing, to speak of it as already done, as it was made certain, 
without condition or contingency, by a judicial decree, which 
cannot be revoked, and is to be accomplished at the time of the 
final judgment and end of the world, or end of this mundane 
system. Bat ere they arrive at that period, have been, and are 
now permitted to wander among the worlds, which God has 
made, and for aught we know to the contrary, for the trial 
of the inhabitants of those worlds, as we find is the fact on this ; 
so that both ideas are true, as he, with his angels, are not only 
cast down to hell by decree, but into the earth also, while de- 
scending thitherward, in the progression of time and events. In 
agreement with this, the Revelator says, chap- xii. 12, " Wo to 
the inhabitants of the earth, for the devil has come down unto 
you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a 
short time," before he, with his angels, will be cast into the hell 
which is prepared for them. But on the supposition that this 
devil, of whom St. John here speaks, was the lusts and evil pas- 
sions of the human soul, as developed since the fall, how could 
he say, that the passions of man know anything ? See above, 
because he knoweth that he hath a short time, &c. And how, 
or by what rule, can the passions of men be spoken of in the 
singular number, and how can they be contemplated as a being, 
and brought to notice by the personal pronoun he, as they are 
in this passage, if Universalists are correct ? 

That there is such a hell, located somewhere in infinite space 
of vast extent, is evident from Matth. xxv. 41. " Then shall He 
say, (at the time when all nations shall be gathered before him) 
also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into 
everlasting fire, prepared (or created) for the devil and his an- 
gels." Now anything which is prepared, is so done by some 
means, or being ; and as no means or being is able to prepare, or 
create, a place of fire, as a habitation for devils, but God, we find 
that He is its creator, if it exists at all ; and if it exists, it has a 
location, because all things created are located, or in other words 
are somewhere, which is location. That this hell is of vast ex- 
tent, we learn from the circumstance of that which is to trans- 
pire at the end of the world, or general conflagration ; which is. 
that this earth, on which we now dwell, is to be cast into it, by 
the power of the Almighty arm ; on which account, we get a 
glimpse of its immensity; where doubtless all other worlds, 
whose inhabitants have or may yet apostatize, as this has done, 



176 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

are to be cast, out of the universe, into this dreadful hell, all along 
the course of eternal ages. 

But where is the proof that such is to be the end of this earth ? 
See Rev. xx. 13, 14. " And the sea gave up the dead, (those 
drowned therein) which were in it ; and death and hell delivered 
up the dead which were in them ; and they were judged, every 
man according to their works. And death and hell were (are 
to be) cast into the lake of fire : this is the second death." But 
how does this prove it 7 It proves it as follows : Death is here put 
for the grave, or the earth, as the earth is but one immense 
grave, where sleep all the dead bodies of the human race, and 
must sleep till the sounding of the last trump, at the day of 
judgment, which shall raise them up again, when death or the 
grave shall give up the dead which are in it. Respecting this, 
it is the opinion of Adam Clarke, as found in his. Commentary, 
on this subject, that death is here personified, and represented 
as a keeper of dead human bodies, and means no more nor less 
than the grave or earth, as properly belonging to the empire of 
death, but at that period it is to give up its prisoners. But hell, 
which is here connected with death, is also to give up its dead ; 
what does this mean 7 The same author says hell or hades, the 
place of separate (wicked) spirits. Death or the grave has the 
bodies of all human beings, both the good and the bad, while 
hades has the spirits of the wicked only. Hades is therefore to 
give up its dead, or damned spirits, to the scrutinies of the judg- 
ment, while death, or the grave, or the earth, is to release the 
bodies of both the good and the bad, when the souls of those who 
are in paradise will come to their respective bodies again, and 
the souls of those in hades, or the place of the wicked separate 
spirits, will also be again united to their former bodies. 

But where is this hades, the present place of separate wicked 
human spirits 7 We answer, that it is our full and only belief, 
that it is in the bowels of this same earth, on which we live, or 
the revelator could not have spoken of both the grave and hades 
as being united in the possession of the souls and bodies of the 
same beings. If so, then we gain the point, that the earth is to 
be cast into that ocean of firef which was originally made for 
the fallen angels. Now except this is the meaning of the reve- 
lator, namely, that " death and hell," as in this earth, are to be 
cast into the lake, or world of fire, we know not what the mean- 
ing is ; as the language is too strong and glaring to have any 
application, by way of figure, to the affairs of men in this life. 

This idea, that of the grave or death, and hades being united 
in this earth, in containing both the souls and bodies of the 
wicked, is certainly not unphilosophic, as we can conceive of no 
sufficient reason why the earth should not hold them both, till 
the time of judgment. What could be gained by separating 
them, and by causing the spirit to be transported millions of 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 177 

miles, to some other place in the great ocean of space ; and then at 
the time of the judgment, to be remanded from thence to the earth 
again ; while their bodies should remain here, in their graves, 
the house and habitation of death ? Nothing that we can see, 
either in consistency or convenience. Why not both remain 
where they both were created, redeemed, and lived, till both 
shall again be united in the resurrection, to be reckoned with by 
the Creator, for their delinquencies during this life ? 

This opinion is more than intimated by Daniel, chap. xii. 2. 
" And many of them (or they) that sleep in the dust (graves) of 
the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to 
shame, and everlasting contempt." Now as the body is not 
capable of the sensations of shame, it follows that the spirit or 
mind is the being which is to feel, and be subject to this distress- 
ing emotion ; and as the body cannot awake alone to this feel- 
ing, it follows that it shall be the mind ; which, on entering the 
gathered particles of its ancient body, that body shall awake ; but 
the mind within is that being who shall feel this shame and con- 
tempt, and would seem to favor the idea, that the spirit had been 
confined here, as well as the body, till the sounding of the last 
trump, or day of judgment. 

The idea of awakening is wholly applicable to the body, as 
the spirit or mind will never sleep in the dust, or anywhere else ; 
on which account, it is said by that verse that many of them 
that sleep, meaning all the dead, shall awake ; many, or some, 
of both characters, to their respective destinies, determined by 
their former characters, which is to be life everlasting, and shame 
everlasting. We believe, therefore, that wicked human spirits, 
are immediately after death, driven down into the bowels of 
the earth, or hades, and kept under chains of darkness, till the 
end of the world ; while the souls of the righteous immediately 
go away into paradise; which for aught we know is situated 
beyond the atmosphere of this globe, in the circumambient re- 
gions of space ; where they rest from their labors, till the day of 
judgment, to descend again to be united with their old compan- 
ion, their respective bodies. Perhaps this place, paradise, is 
what is meant by the remark of the Saviour, when on the cross ; 
who said to the penitent thief, " this day shalt thou be with me 
in paradise." But paradise is not the ultimate heaven and 
home of happy human spirits ; yet this opposes no difficulty to 
the fulfilment of the promise to the disciples, which was, "where 
I am, there shall my disciples be also," as this shall be fulfilled 
at the time of the day of judgment. In this paradise it was, that 
Christ when he would, remained during the forty days which 
elapsed from the time of his resurrection and his ascension to hea- 
ven, from mount Olivet, as he told Mary (John, xx. 17) that he had 
not yet ascended to his father ; which proves beyond all doubt or 
contradiction, that the paradise in which the Saviour on the cross 



178 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

promised to the dying and pardoned thief, that he should be with 
him there that very day, because he told Mary, which was the 
third day after his death, that he had not yet ascended to her Fa- 
ther and his Father, to his God and to her G«d, which place is 
the great and final heaven of the saints. In this paradise it was 
where the souls of Lazarus, of the widow's son, and of Jarius's 
daughter, were at rest, which Christ remanded when he raised 
those persons from the dead. It was from thence the soul of the 
lad, which Elijah the prophet prayed might come again into his 
body, was remanded ; and from whence came the souls of all 
those saints which arose from their graves at the time of the re- 
surrection of our Lord, and appeared to many in the holy city ; 
and in our opinion, for the reason above given, is where all the 
souls of all the righteous, from Abel the son of Adam to this pre- 
sent time, and from hence till the death of the last saint, do rest 
till Christ shall come from heaven, his ancient seat of empire, to 
judge the world, when the whole company of paradise, with their 
raised and spiritualised bodies, shall go away with him to eternal 
glory, in the first and primeval heaven of the angels, from whence 
they who sinned were cast out. 

That there is such a place as hell, see Rev. xix. 20. " And 
the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that 
wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them 
that received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped 
his image. These both were cast alive (after the resurrection) 
into a lake of fire burning with brimstone? 

To such a place as a lake of fire, the Revelator has several al- 
lusions. See chap. xx. 10. "And the devil that deceived them 
was [is to be] cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, where the 
beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night, 
forever and ever." The words here, ever and ever, are repeated 
merely for harmony's sake ; as on and onward, can never fur- 
nish an argument — as Balfour supposes of limitation, merely 
because the words are repeated — and add nothing to their mean- 
ing. The often-repeated forever and ever, in both the Hebrew 
and Greek, is agreeable with the idioms of both languages, and 
was always used to give force and intenseness, by the best wri- 
ters of the ages, when those languages were in use. No good 
scholar can dispute this. 

The quibble therefore, of Universalists on these words, forever 
and ever, is but a quibble ; because they are found applied to 
lesser subjects than eternal ones. The terms day and night. 
likewise, are seized upon by Universalists, to show that all this 
torment and pain, is suffered in this life, because it is here that 
day and night exists, but not in eternity : and though they may 
not, yet may nevertheless be used in reference to eternal suffer- 
ings ; inasmuch as day and night comprehends all time here ; 
and that while day and night succeed among the globes of God 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 181 

for the accommodation of their inhabitants, while eternity en- 
dures ; so shall the beast and the false prophet, and they that 
have his mark in their hand, or forehead, be tormented in this 
lake of fire. See again the same chapter, (xx.) verse 15. "And 
whosoever was not found written in the book of life [salvation 
in eternity] was cast into the lake of fire." Also, chap. xxi. 8. 
I* But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and 
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerors, and idolaters, and 
all liars, shall have their part in the lake of fire which burnetii 
with brimstone : which is the second death. 

Now if this language does not in fact, describe literally, the 
existence of a hell in eternity, we have no conception of its mean- 
ing, whatever ; as there is no condition in this life, which is not 
more or less mingled with circumstances of comfort, while life 
lasts, and especially with such as walk about at liberty, though 
ever so wicked. But the Revelator speaks of a punishment which 
has in it no relief, no circumstances of amelioration, no hope, no 
comfort, but one unmingled state of suffering and pain. See 
chap. xiv. 10. " The same [such as worship the beast and his 
image] shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is 
poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation ; 
and he [or they] shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in 
the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." 
Can such a condition be realized in this life ? Never ! But 
when is this earth to set out on its journey of damnation ? We 
answer : at the end of time — according to Scripture — when the 
bodies of both the good and the bad, shall be made to live again ; 
and the spirits, or minds which once inhabited them on the earth, 
shall be brought from their respective abodes, hades, and para- 
dise, and be united again. At that time, the good are to be divi- 
ded from the bad : the former are to be taken to heaven, while 
the latter are to be left on the earth, — when it is to be set on fire, 
and cast far off out of the family of the universe, into the hell 
which was created for the purpose before stated ; where it will 
sink down in its dreary depths, and become, by the action of fire, 
amalgamated with that world of horror. (See the Plate.) 

The overturning of empires — the sacking of cities, towns and 
countries — pestilence and death, with all the miseries to which 
human temporal existence is exposed — is nothing, when com- 
pared with the figures — if they are but figures — which are 
used in the book of Revelations, and other parts of the Bible to 
describe the sorrows of the damned in another world. If those 
appalling descriptions extend to nothing more than what happens 
in this life — the worst of which, is the way to death, and that is 
the end of it, according to Universalists — then are those descrip- 
tions untrue, and unbecoming the dignity of holy inspiration ; as 
the mind is led thereby to apprehend that which is never to take 
place, and very much needs the consoling sophisms of Univer- 



182 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

salist divinity, to allay unnecessary fears, conjured up in the 
mind, by reading that book of truth — the holy Scriptures. For 
this great text book of the Christian world, to say that there is a 
place of unutterable torment, consisting of the sting of the worm 
(despair and guilt,) that dieth not, and of a lake of fire, the smoke 
of which ascendeth up forever and ever ; in which the wicked, 
the beast, and the false prophet, the devil and his angels, are to 
be tormented without end, — is unaccountable ; and surpasses all 
the stories of tragic romance, produced by the wildest effusions of 
mad men, if it is to be understood in the way which Universalists 
doctrinize on such subjects. What sorrow, or temporal afflic- 
tion, is that, which can be compared to dwelling in devouring 
flames, or to being cast alive into a lake of fire, even for a day, or 
an hour 7 but when we are told that it is to be without end, how 
much does this exceed all the sorrows of this life, whether of body 
or of mind ; and is it right, is it logical, that the figure should 
so much exceed the reality ? 

But the reality is not exceeded by the figure ; we cannot bring 
ourselves to believe that these descriptions are false and fictitious, 
or that effort is made in that book, the Bible, to conjure up unreal 
fears. If it is Scriptural, philosophical, and agreeable, with the 
government of God, that anything called a hell in this life, 
should be a fact, as Universalists contend is the fact, how is it to 
be shown, that under the government of the same God, there can 
be no such existence in eternity. If there is no hell in eter- 
nity, if there are no fallen angels, no devil, nor a day of judg- 
ment to come, why does not the Scripture say so; as these 
opinions were held by the Jews at the time of our Lord and the 
writers of the New Testament ; who have not so much as 
glanced at their non-existence, nor anywhere opposed those 
errors, but everywhere shown these things to be true, and every- 
where warned men to secure themselves from them, by laying 
hold on the hope of the gospel. But if men will not lay hold of this 
hope, it makes but little difference according to Universalists, as the 
poor creatures will soon pass off the stage of life to a sound sleep 
of both body and soul, in the grave, (or hell,) till the time of the 
resurrection, when they will awake, some from the grave of a 
suicide, others from a state of moral degradation, far enough 
below a brute, to all the joys of holiness at God's right hand. 

But the idea of such a place is not entirely peculiar to the 
New Testament, as we meet with allusions to it in the book of 
Job, chap. xi. 8, where it is said that the wisdom of God is " as 
high as heaven," and "deeper than hell." If the hell here 
alluded to is but the grave, the comparison is but a poor one ; as 
the depth of a grave contrasts but poorly with the height of hea- 
ven, whether it be the heaven of heavens, or the ordinary height 
of the atmosphere. In 2d Samuel, xxii. 6, David says that the 
sorrows of hell compassed him about. Now if the grave alone 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 183 

is meant here by David, it is very singular, as there is no pain 
or sorrow in the grave, and could not therefore be alluded to as 
having sorrows of any kind, but as only a state of insensibility ; 
therefore hell is a place of sorrow, and was believed in as such 
by David. But the sorrows which encompassed David about, 
which he calls the sorrows of hell, were not, however, the sor- 
rows of a guilty conscience, but the persecutions of Saul, his 
father-in-law, and his assassin soldiers ; as the time and occur- 
rences which he celebrates in that psalm, were long before his 
sin in the affair of Uriah and Bathsheba, and his sorrows on that 
account ; which, however, he never calls a hell. Or if we say 
this hell, which is not so deep as the wisdom of God, is the guilty 
consciences of the wicked ; still there is a poverty in the com- 
parison which is utterly unworthy the divine inspiration. But 
if the wisdom of God in the comparison, is allowed to reach 
beyond all finite happiness, even as it is developed in heaven, 
and beyond all suffering as it is developed in hell, then is there a 
majesty, a strength, and force in the comparison ; as it exhibits 
the wisdom of God as reaching above and beneath all power, all 
being and principle, distinct from God, and even to the mystery 
of his own incommunicable being. 

That great Hebrew poet, prophet and king, has, in another 
place — see one of his Psalms, namely, ix. 17 — spoken as plainly 
as language can speak, on this matter, by stating that "the 
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
God." But if the grave is the hell which is here meant, then 
the same fate awaits the righteous as the wicked, for they must 
all die and return into the earth. Most certainly David meant 
to make more difference than this between the final end of the 
good and the bad ; yet as any one can see, there is no difference 
made, if the mere grave is all. But if it be said that a guilty 
conscience was the hell he meant, yet the application is ra#ier 
awkward, as a guilty conscience is already in the minds of the 
wicked ; and how are they to be turned into their own minds 
or consciences? But if there is such a place, then is there 'for ce 
in that word of inspiration, "the wicked shall he turned into 
hell." But if they repent and live, then their characters as 
wicked characters, cease to exist, on which account they cannot 
be turned into hell ; as they are not wicked after having repented, 
and pardon having been bestowed, if they die in that condition. 

Here then another quibble of Universalists against the orthodox 
opinion about a hell, is answered. They, the Universalists, say 
that if the wicked are to be turned into hell, then all the inhabit- 
ants of the earth in all ages will go there, because they are all 
wicked ; and in this way make it out for the orthodox, that a 
universal damnation must take place. But to this we reply, 
that if the wicked become changed in their character, then 
the penalty cannot touch them. Thus we get clear of the charge 



1S4 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

of damning the whole race ; while Universalists do not even 
pretend to save one single individual of the whole family of 
man from that place, but teach that all men must inevitably 
descend into hell. But how do they do this ? why by making 
a man's own bosom or conscience that hell, out of which he 
is to come as soon as he has suffered enough. David, how- 
ever, says nothing about any one getting out of it, by any 
means; how, therefore, came Universalists so much wiser 
than David, or than any of the writers of either the Old or 
the New Testament, as we do not find any mention of a re- 
lease from such a condition, in all their writings. 

If there is no created hell, such as we find described in the 
Scriptures, how is it that Christ has said, (Matth. v. 22,) in 
his sermon on the Mount, a long while before the subject of 
the destruction of the Jews is agitated in the New Testament, 
that for a certain sin which a man could commit, he should be 
in danger of hell fire. But how is this possible, if there is 
no such hell ? How can a man be in danger of that which 
does not exist ? This would have been but an awkward po- 
sition for Him who spoke as never man spoke ; of which the 
cunning Jews, would not fail to have upbraided him with. 
The difficulty, however, says a Universalist, is easy enough 
got along with ; as that fire to which the Saviour there 
alludes, was but the fire of the valley of the son of Hinnom, 
in which, if a man called his brother a fool, he was exposed 
to be burnt. But the Jews did not understand the Saviour 
as speaking of that fire, because at that time it had been ex- 
tinguished, and out of use many hundred years. Respecting 
this, we have the following from the pen of Adam Clarke ; 
who says, that " from the circumstance of this valley having 
once been the scene of infernal sacrifices, as practiced by the 
Cahaanitish pagans : the Jews in our Saviour's time, used the 
word* Gehenna, or Ghihinom, or place of the valley of the son 
of Hinnom, — for hell, the place of the damned in eternity." 
From which, the thing is clear that our Lord spoke not of the 
fire of that valley — as once in use, hundreds of years before 
that time — but of the fire of hell; of which the fire of that 
valley was a type, as understood by the Jews. If this was 
not so, the Jews could have laughed him to scorn, when he 
told them in his inimitable sermon on the Mount, that for a 
certain sin a man should be in danger of the fire of the valley 
of the son of Hinnom, when they all knew that there was 
no fire there of the kind, nor had been for many centuries. 
It is true, however, that the Jewish elders, forming the great- 
er Sanhedrim, could condemn to death by fire, any Jew who 
should call a brother a fool ; which meant in the language 
as spoken by them at that time, apostacy from their religion, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 185 

which they expressed by the word Moreh. Now if a Jew, 
in malice, so charged his brother with being an apostate from 
God and the law of Moses, and could not prove it, the greater 
Sanhedrim, could, if they pleased, punish him with death by 
fire. But though this was the case, yet as there is no fire in 
a man's conscience, even though he is guilty of sin, nor yet 
in the grave, both of which Universalists say are hells ; there 
could have been no propriety in the Saviour's calling the fire, 
with which such an offender might have been burned, hell 
fire, but should rather have said the fire of the Sanhedrim, 
as it was their officers who must kindle it, if it was kindled 
at all ; as the fires of Gehenna had long ceased to be in use 
for the purposes practised by the ancient people of the 
country, the Canaanites, such as burning their children, and 
offering by fire human sacrifices to their gods. For which 
reason the Jews, in our Saviour's time, used the word Ghi- 
hinom, or Gehenna, or any word by which that valley was 
known, for hell, the place of the damned in another world. 
Disprove this who can. 

But in further proof of this opinion, we bring from the 13th 
chapter of Matthew, several statements of the Saviour to his 
disciples. It appears that at a certain time he had spoken to 
the multitude several parables, as that of the sower, the tares 
and the wheat, and of the taking of fishes in a net, the mean- 
ing of which his disciples did not at all comprehend. But af- 
ter their master had sent away the multitude, he took his dis- 
ciples into a house, and at their request explained the literal 
meaning of the parables in so clear a manner, as that all pos- 
sible mistake is moved out of the way. But what was the 
literal meaning of the parables which had but just then been 
given to the people, they were as follows. The field, he told 
them is the world, (not Judea alone, but the whole world) the 
good seed is the children of the kingdom, or in other words, the 
righteous in the estimation of God; but the tares are the 
wicked, or children of the wicked one, the devil ; and also 
the enemy who had sowed the tares in the field, was the de- 
vil, and the harvesting of that field is to be the end of the 
world, and the reapers are to be the angels of God. He also 
told them, that as men, in harvesting a field always gather out 
the tares from the wheat, and bind them in bundles, and burn 
them wiih fire — so it shall be in the end of this world. For 
the son of man, meaning himself, will at this time send out 
his angels from heaven, (not from Rome) and gather out 
of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do ini- 
quity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, which is the 
hell of the Scriptures. 

Our Lord says that the reapers of his field, at the end of 



186 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

the world, will be the angels ; but Universalists say that those 
angels were to be the Roman soldiers under Titus, who con- 
sisted of a vast assemblage of many nations, subject to the 
arms of Rome, heathen, savage, half-savage and civilized — 
who, as a mighty flood, poured, at the time of the siege of 
that city, around Jerusalem, fierce as evening wolves in search 
of prey. Fine angels these, to be supposed as belonging to 
Christ, and to be sent by him to gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity, when these 
very angels were the quintessence of iniquity itself, and 
are in a certain place, by anticipation, spoken of by the Sa- 
viour, as the abomination foretold by Daniel, which maketh 
desolate, which by no Scripture precedent that we are ac- 
quainted with, could be called angels of God, in any sense of 
the word. 

But we think we are able to bring several Scriptures in 
support of the 13th of Matthew, and of a day of judgment, 
and of the destruction of the whole mundane system or earth, 
at that time, by which also to disprove the opinion of the de- 
struction of Jerusalem by the Romans, having been that day of 
judgment. See Matth. xxv. 31. "When the son of man shall 
come in his glory, and all the holy angels (of heaven) with 
him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory. And be- 
fore him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate 
them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from 
the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but 

the goats on the left Then shall he say unto them on the 

left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels." Now to show plainly 
that the powers of the Romans could not have been the angels 
of which the above question speaks, we notice the remarka- 
bly qualifying words ; "All the holy angels with him." The 
Romans were not holy, but rather abominable, as we have 
already shown, and therefore were not the angels spoken of. 
But there is another feature to accompany the coming of 
Christ, at the end of the world, — for which we are now con- 
tending, and that is : he is to come in his glory ; " and every 
eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him ; and all 
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Rev. i. 7. 
Did Christ appear at the siege of Jerusalem in his glory, 
accompanied by angels ? We have not heard that he did ; — 
Josephus says nothing of it. 

But another feature still: — " When the Son of man shall 
come, he is to sit upon a throne, and before him all nations 
are to be gathered." At the siege of Jerusalem, there was 
only one nation gathered, and that was the Jews ; as no man 
will be so beside himself, as to say the Romans were judged 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 197 

at that time, when they were the triumphant and victorious 
party : neither did they comprise all the nations of the earth. 
That time, therefore, was not the day of judgment which the 
text alluds to, as it does not accomplish the things foretold of 
it. At the true day of judgment, every eye is to see him 
(Christ) and particularly those who pierced him on the 
cross, according to the Scripture, as above quoted, when 
truly all the nations which have lived on the earth's sur- 
face, shall stand before him to give an account of the deeds 
done in the body, with every idle word — which was not done 
at the siege of Jerusalem. 

St. Mark gives much the same description. See chap. viii. 
38. u Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me, and of 
my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also 
shall the son of man be ashamed, when hecomethin the glory 
of his Father, with the holy angels." Here again it is said 
that his angels, who were to accompany him at that day, were 
to be holy ; which the Romans were not, for they are called 
the abomination which maketh desolate, and therefore were 
not the angels alluded to ; and of consequence the destruction 
of the Jews by the Romans was not the day of judgment of 
the Scriptures, which is to take place at the end of the 
world. 

St. Luke says the same thing. (See chap. ix. 26.) That 
there is to be a day of judgment different from that of the 
ruin of the Jews, we further prove from 1st Thes. iv. 16. a For 
the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with 
the voice of the archangel, (Michael) and with the trump of 
God, and the dead in Christ shall rise." Now as before ask- 
ed w r e here ask again, did the Lord himself descend from 
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 
with the trump of God ? and did the dead in Christ rise to life 
at the siege of Jerusalem ? We have never heard that any of 
these things transpired at that time. To be in Christ, is to 
be alive, in the moral sense of the word ; by which we per- 
ceive that to be the dead in Chsist, is to be dead in the grave, 
having died a Christian : to be raised, therefore, from the 
dead, is to be raised from the grave, at the time of the resur- 
rection ; which did not take place at the siege of Jerusalem, 
as the Christians were not dead at that time, either morally 
or naturally, and could not therefore be the subjects of a re- 
surrection in any sense. 2d Thes. i. 7, speaks of the same 
thing as follows : " And to you who are troubled, rest with 
us : when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with 
his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord 

12 



188 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting (eternal as 
it is in the original) destruction from the presence of the Lord, 
and the glory of his power." 

What did the apostle mean, by saying, " rest with us ?" Did 
he not mean rest with us in hope, till the time when Christ shall 
come to judge the world in righteousness ? But it is contended, 
by Universalists, that as the Jews, who were carried away cap- 
tives by the Romans, have never recovered their national exist- 
ence, that it is they who were to suffer everlasting punish- 
ment and banishment from the glory of his power. But this 
cannot be, as the Jews were no more banished from the glo- 
ry of God's power, than any of the rest of the human race, 
as the works of his hands, in nature and in providence, were 
around about the Jews, in captivity as at Jerusalem, and were not, 
therefore, banished from his presence and the glory of his power. 
Consequently some other time, circumstance or period is meant, 
when such things are to take place, than took place when the 
Jews were overturned as a nation. 

St. Paul believed in such a day of judgment, as we are con- 
tending for, when all mankind shall be judged at once, and every 
one give an account for himself to God, for the things done in 
his body, or lifetime. See Acts, xvii. 31. " Because He (God) 
hath appointed a day (or time) in the which he will judge the 
world in righteousness, by that man (Jesus,) whom he hath or- 
dained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that 
he hath raised him from the dead." Now if we are to believe 
that the destruction of Jerusalem was the very day of judgment, 
so often spoken of in the New Testament, and no other, we are 
compelled to the strange conclusion, that for that cause alone, 
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead — merely to give assurance 
to all men, that some forty years from that time the Romans 
were going to destroy the Jews as a nation, but not as a people : 
which would as surely have taken place without that assurance 
as with it. And of what consequence could it have been to all 
men, whether they knew this or not ? as Jerusalem was of no 
account to those parts of the earth having nothing to do with 
her ; and if to give assurance to all men of that war between the 
Jews and the Romans, was all the reason why God raised his 
Son the Lord from the dead, we think the forerunner or sign 
greater than the event signified ; which is to invert the order 
of things, and ridicules the ways of the Eternal Mind. 

Universalists generally contend, that Christ was raised from 
the dead merely to demonstrate and to bring to light the doctrine 
of a general resurrection of all human beings from death, at a 
set time, which set time is the day of final judgment, as held by 
the orthodox. But if St. Paul here meant that Christ arose from 
the dead, merely in order to give assurance to all men that God, 
by the Romans, was going to punish the Jews some time or 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 1S9 

other, then are Universalists entirely out of the balance ; for the 
circumstance cannot be used to give assurance of both events, 
the destruction of the Jews and the resurrection of mankind. 
But the truth is, neither of these events are alluded to by St. 
Paul in that verse ; because he says, that at a given day, the 
world, the whole world, is to be judged ; and as Judea was not 
the whole world, and as the dead were not then raised, it follows 
of necessity that the destruction of the Jews, by the Romans, was 
not the event spoken of in the text, but the end of the world, yet 
to come. This opinion is still further corroborated by St. Mat- 
thew, by St. Peter, and by St, Paul. See Matth. xii. 36, where 
the speaker is the Son of God himself, who there says in relation 
to the day of judgment : " But I say unto you, that every idle 
word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof at the 
day of judgment." Was this done at the siege of Jerusalem ? 
did any man there give an account of every idle word which he 
may have spoken, or even of one word, in his whole life before 1 
No, the idea is too simple to be mentioned. That this text embra- 
ces all mankind, who are thus to account for every idle word, is 
shown from the terms men shall speak ; as the word men stands 
for the whole race, in all ages of the world, even till the last day. 
In allusion to this day, St. Peter has written — 1st Peter, iv. 5 — 
respecting the finally impenitent, who he says, " shall give ac- 
count to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead." 
Also, Romans, xiv. 12, " So then every one of us shall give 
account of himself to God" 

We know that much stress is laid on the fact of the afflictions 
of the wretched Jews, when their city, their government, and 
their religion, was brought to an end by the Romans ; and that 
Universalists seem to think their sufferings to have been bad 
enough to bear all the dreadful figures and prophecies of their 
troubles, without refering such figures and such prophesyings to 
the burning of the world for their fulfilment. But to this we 
demur, and ask the question, Was the condition of the Christians 
(though at the exact juncture when Jerusalem was overthrown, 
they were permitted by the Divine Providence to flee from that 
doomed metropolis, to a place called Pella, where they were 
safe.) any better upon the whole than the Jews ? we think not ; 
for who does not know, that they, in a very little time, became the 
objects of universal hatred and persecution ; which continued till 
the age of Constantine, with but little intermission, a period of 
nearly three hundred years ; during which time, no less than ten 
general persecutions took place, by which hundreds of thou- 
sands were destroyed from the earth, in all the ways that bigotry, 
malice and cruelty could invent, as exerted upon them by these 
very Roman powers, who had the Jews in captivity ; and since 
that time as many more by the Roman Catholics, according to 
the history of the church. On which account we do not per- 



190 



HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 



ceive, that what is called by Universalists the hell of the Jews, in 
a state of slavery and national ruin, was any worse, if as bad as 
the hell of the Christians in a state of persecution. Wherefore 
it is clear that the plan of the Universalits, in interpreting Scrip- 
ture, makes out no difference, even in this life, between the good 
and the bad, on a large scale ; no difference between the tares 
and the ivheat, as to their temporal or eternal condition ; making 
revealed religion a complete nulity in the affairs of men ; which 
is Deism. We should think that religion, if Universalism is true, 
and the faith of the gospel, would produce temporal happiness, 
above that of irreligion; as it is a system altogether earthly, 
according to Universalists, having nothing to do with eternity. 
But do the Scriptures say thus ? see Pslams, chap, xxxiv. 19, 
;; Many are the afflictions of the righteous." The same fact is 
attested by several of the New Testament writers, see John, xvi. 
33, " In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be of good 
cheer, I have overcome the world? Do you think he meant 
Judea by the word world, which he had overcome ? or did he 
mean that he was about to make atonement for the sin of the 
world, the whole human race ? Also, Acts, xiv. 22, it is said, 
"that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the king- 
dom of God." Rev. i. 9, the Revelator told the Christian 
churches that he was their " companion and brother in tribula- 
tion, in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ;" and in 
chap. ii. 9, he has said again, that the spirit knew their 
" works, and tribidation and poverty" He tells them to fear 
none of the things which they should suffer ; for even the devil, 
by the means of wicked men, should cast some of them into pri- 
son, that they might be tried ; but that they must be faithful until 
death, when, or immediately after, they should have a crown of 
life. Again, Rev. vii. 14, St. John speaks of what an angel said 
to him, relative to the souls of the righteous in eternity ; and 
states that they had come out of great tribulation, and had washed 
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb ; but 
in heaven there should be an end of their sorrows. It is said of 
God, that he scour geth every son whom he receiveth. But as 
it respects the wicked, they are spoken of as being wiser and 
more happy in their temporal condition, than the righteous in 
this life ; see Luke, xvi. 8, « for the children of this world, (do 
you think he here meant the people of the Jews only, by the word 
world,) are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light;" 
that is, are more cunning, more wise and crafty, not having the 
unsophisticated manners and spirit of the children of light, or of 
tine religion, till converted. By these Scriptures, it is ascer- 
tained that the righteous are much worse off in this life than 
the wicked ; except in the item of conscience ; yet after all, even 
this exception amounts to a mere nothing, as the wicked are to 
have as bright a heaven, as if they had been good all their life 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 191 

time ; and a little brighter, on account of their having suffered 
so aiofully in their poor consciences, for their wickedness in 
this world ; not only in the Judea world, but in this great world 
which goes every year around the sun. 

But we have strong doubts, whether such persons as do indeed 
and in fact, most unboundedly and confidingly, believe (which, 
however, we think hardly credible,) Universalist sentiments, in 
respect to punishment for sin, not of sin, but for sin in another 
life, know anything about a good or a bad conscience toward God ; 
as indeed we see no need of any, as it can answer no possible 
purpose ; because such persons know, or think they know, that 
however wicked they may be, this can make no difference in 
their relation to God, or retard a happy state after death, as God 
loves the bad equally with the good. Were the writer of this 
work a Universalist, we do not see why we should not make 
haste to become so wicked as to destroy all the susceptibility of 
conscience out of our bosom, as in this way we should escape, 
what Universalists call the hell of conscience, in this life. But 
can this be done? we answer, upon the authority of Scripture, 
the inspiration of which is certainly to be relied on, that' it has 
and can be done ; see 1st Timothy, iv. 2, « Now the spirit speak- 
eth expressly, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the 
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, 
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with 
a hot iron." That such a thing is possible, we further prove, 
from Ephesians, iv. 18, 19 : "Having their understanding dark- 
ened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance 
that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts : who 
being past feeling, have given themselves over to lascivious- 
ness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." By these two 
witnesses, we prove the doctrine, which cannot be contradicted 
from the Scriptures : that a man may so harden his heart, and 
abuse this most delicate of all the powers of the soul, the con- 
science, as to kill or destroy its feeling, and reduce the mind to 
a seared and insensible condition, as to moral susceptibility and 
life. Now, if it is possible, why is it not best, as thereby all the 
hell there is in being, according to Universalists, will be effectu- 
ally avoided. For the sake of a good conscience, millions have 
suffered all manner of tortures, rather than violate this power of the 
soul ; and have done themselves no good after all, as heaven and 
a happy state after death, was made none the surer on that 
account ; and even those who tortured them, went thither as swift- 
ly and as surely, as soon as dead. With this view, would it not 
be better that men should remain in their natural condition, 
which is that of moral death, than to be made to feel sorrow and 
pain for sin ; as it can do no possible good, in relation to another 
world, and is sure to secure affliction in this. Wherefore, the 
harder and more unfeeling a man's conscience is ? toward either 



192 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

God or mail, the better it is for him j as by that means he abso- 
lutely escapes all the hell there is, except barely the process of 
hardening a little while at first. With this view, we do not 
wonder that Universalists ridicule, what is called in the Scrip- 
tures, and by the orthodox sects, conviction for sin, conversion 
t® God, pardon, regeneration, and the new birth, by the spirit 
from above ; disclaiming loudly and boldly, even from the desk, 
all mysterious operations of the kind, on the heart of man ; 
imagining a mere change of conduct and belief sufficient, with- 
out inquiring into the cause of that change, caring nothing about 
the moral condition of the heart or mind, if so be the conduct is 
but relatively fair. No wonder these men tell us there is no hell in 
another world, as indeed there cannot be, for man, at any rate, 
if such is the condition of the heart j and no more is required 
than that he should be outwardly circumspect in relation to hu- 
man society. This is precisely the ground all Deists take, and is 
called natural religion ; which denies the fall, reprobates a sacri- 
ficial atonement, pours contempt on a change of heart, and any 
hopes of a future happy condition, on any such ground as being 
founded in Jesus Christ, but nature only. We repeat it, they 
hold that heaven is the unalienable right or inheritance of all 
the human race, by virtue of the immutability of the Creator ; 
and it is impossible by anything that man can do, to put this 
certainty in jeopardy ; and has, therefore, never been lost to 
them; on which account, a sacrificial atonement, the just for 
the unjust, for its recovery, has never been needed, or taken 
place ; and yet claim to have Jesus Christ as their teacher and 
foundation. 

But even one's belief or faith, is not by Universalists consid- 
ered important to salvation— if so be the moral conduct is not 
greatly reprehensible. We come to this conclusion, from the fact 
that this people will not even allow that sin, be it ever so heinous 
or horrible, even self-murder, staining the soul on its entrance 
into eternity, and the presence of God, can possibly bar it from 
admission into the kingdom of heaven, and eternal felicity. 
We prove this from some remarks made by a Mr. Lefevre, a 
very popular man among Universalists, (See a paper published 
by that people, entitled — Universalist Union, for July 2, 1836, 
vol. 1st, No. 34, page 270 — where the remarks alluded to are 
printed,) in which sueh a case is argued, and decided that though 
a man might go into eternity, having his soul stained with the 
sin of the murder of his neighbor, and then of himself by the 
same dagger, that in the general resurrection, that man, soul and 
body, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, on the same foot- 
ing that the triumphant St. Paul will, or any other person, who 
departs this life as a Christian. 

This, their opinion, is bottomed on the words of St. Paul — 1st 
Cor. xv. 52, and on Phil. HL 21 — where it is written of the saints 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 193 

only, that in the resurrection, they shall be changed, and their 
vile bodies fashioned after the likeness of Christ's glorious body. 
But Universalists claim this glorious change for all mankind, 
however bad, merely because St. Paul has used the words we and 
our. This reminds us of the fable, in which an apple and a 
nameless article were afloat together in a stream, when the name- 
less article said to the apple, how we apples do swim. This doc- 
trine of the salvation of such as die in their sins, is certainly op- 
posed to the express word of Jesus Christ, on this very subject : (Sr. 
John, viii. 21, 24,) " Then said Jesus again unto them, (the Jews) 
I go my way and ye shall seek me, and die in your sins : whith- 
er I go ye cannot come : I said therefore unto you, that ye shall 
die in your sins ; for if ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in 
your sins." Now that the Saviour has here stated a case in 
which a person dying a sinner, could not, and shall not go where 
Christ is ; inasmuch as he says — " whither I go ye cannot come." 
That the Saviour was speaking of his own death, then soon to 
take place, is shown from their own words — as seen in the 22d 
verse of the same chapter — as follows : " Then said the Jews, 
Will he kill himself 1 because he saith, Whither I go ye cannot 
come." That this was a right view of his meaning, we have 
only to look at the 28th verse of the same chapter, which reads : 
" Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son 
of man, then shall ye know that I am he ;" — that is, the Christ, 
the thing they disbelieved, and for which, they were to die in 
their sins, if they continued in their unbelief ; and after which 
they could not go to the place where Christ was — which is heav- 
en ; for when he ascended — it is said in the book of Acts — that 
he went into heaven. 

St. John the Revelator, (we Suppose we may quote this book, 
notwithstanding Universalists have their doubts of its authen- 
ticity — for we find they often quote it, especially if they fancy 
they have found some text there which makes against an antago- 
nist,) we repeat it, St. John says, Rev. xiv. 13, "Blessed are the 
dead that die in the Lord from henceforth : yea saith the spirit, 
that they may rest from their labors : and their works do follow 
them." But is it anywhere written, blessed are the dead who 
die in their sins ? No it is not ; while it is written as above 
noticed, that a man dying in his sins, as in the case of self-mur- 
der, by a shot through the heart, cannot go to heaven, or t@ the 
place where Christ has gone, If such persons go to heaven, it 
must of necessity be a heaven where there is no Lord Jesus 
Christ ; on which account we are of the opinion that it will be 
very much like hell, If such as die in the Lord are to have their 
good works follow them, as a justification and evidence of their 
righteousness, before all heaven's hosts, is it not to be infered, 
that such as die in their sins shall also have their works of wick- 
edness follow them, as evidence of their evil characters, before 



194 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

all heaven's hosts, to be required at their hands ? for it is said by 
Christ himself, Math. xii. 36, 37, " But I say unto you, that every 
idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof 
in the day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justi- 
fied, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned," or damned, 
which is the true meaning. 

In the same paper to which we have alluded above, under the 
head of a A Question considered" — by Mr. Williamson, pastor 
of a Universalist church, in Albany, N. Y. — it is contended that 
all men are sinners, all their life long, even till death ; and that 
they die in this condition, — as he says : " We hear much of 
changes in this life, and we are free to grant that men's views 
and feelings, and Conduct frequently change : but we know of no 
change on earth, which renders a man free from every stain of 
sin." Now, Mr. Lefevre, in the same paper, and in his sermon, 
as above noticed — argues that the least sin a man can commit, 
and which he may commit, a moment before he dies, will as effec- 
tually shut him out of heaven, according to the orthodox, as one 
that is larger ; even self-murder. We therefore conclude, if this is 
true, that all men will die as deeply stained with sin, as if the whole 
human race were to commit suicide ; and yet the general resurrec- 
tion is to bring them up, changed and fitted for heaven. That all 
men are thus to die, sinners, saints, and all, does not seem to com- 
port well with many parts of the Scriptures ; for then it cannot be 
said of the righteous, that they die in the Lord when they die, 
any more than a drunkard who dies in that condition, dies in the 
Lord : — wherefore, it is unwisely said by the Revelator, " Bless- 
ed are the dead who die in the Lord :" seeming to make a dis- 
tinction, when the truth is no man dies in the Lord, according to 
the above writer, who no doubt, speaks the universal sentiment 
of the Universalists on that point ; or else all, both good and bad, 
die in the Lord alike. 

Now on the supposition, that the general resurrection is to 
bring up all mankind in a fit condition for heaven, we clearly 
perceive that Universalists do not believe in the immortality of 
the human soul ; but believe that it dies with the body, or at 
least, sleeps in a dormant condition, like a frog in a morass, in a 
cold climate, till it shall be aroused by the sound of the last 
trumpet. 

We believe that such an idea cannot be supported by Scripture, 
or reason : as in the first place, the soul of the thief on the cross, 
which was to be, on that same day in which his body was cruci- 
fied, was to be in Paradise with Jesus Christ ; which certainly 
contradicts the idea of the sleep of the soul after death. It also 
contradicts the existence of Enoch and Elijah, as being in a 
quick or active condition, as shown in the Scriptures ; of whom 
it is said that they did not die as other men do, but were transla- 
ted, and did not see death. It contradicts the hope of St. Paul.; 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 195 

who when speaking of his death — which was then soon to take 
place — says : (Phil. i. 23,) " I am in a strait, betwixt two, hav- 
ing a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, 
and to remain in the flesh for the sake of the church." 

Now if the soul of St. Paul was to sleep on from the time of 
his death till the time of the general resurrection, or day of judg- 
ment, how could he anticipate being present with Christ, as soon 
as he should have passed the fatal Rubicon ? which his state- 
ment certainly supposes. Does not some thousands of years 
make any difference in the idea of being with Christ, as soon as 
death should permit it ? The ideas are put opposite to each 
other : that of remaining there with the church, or then leaving 
it, to be with Christ immediately, — without the intervention of 
thousands of years. It contradicts all the hopes of all Christians 
since the world began : — for if this doctrine of the sleep of the 
soul, from death till the resurrection is true, then from the time 
of the death of righteous Abel, with that of all the holy prophets, 
even including the soul of Moses, and all the the martyrs of the 
age — are asleep now in the dust of earth. What a blow is this 
to strike on the face of the ardent hopes of the good ; who as soon 
as this life shall be passed, expect to enter into an active state of 
being and happiness. 

Second, it contradicts reason on this subject ; for if God is the 
father of the spirits of all flesh that is human, and he is the liv- 
ing God ; it follows of necessity that such spirits partake of the 
father's nature, in respect to perpetual being and activity of the 
living principle. Of this principle — the non-immortality of 
the human soul — Universalists are rather shy ; keeping it in an 
ambiguous condition, not exactly avowing it, or denying it ; 
seeming to wait till their sentiments shall gain a stronger footing 
in the land than at present, when that or any other unscriptural 
vagary may be taught to the people, as the morality of Jesus 
Christ. 

That in the resurrection, the whole human race, both good 
and bad, are to be punished, and then and there made meet for 
heaven, is the reason why Universalists cannot see the necessity 
of a man's having his soul converted to God in this life, by the 
renewing of his mind, by the operation of the power of the Holy 
Ghost : no necessity of being born again from above, as Christ 
taught Nicodemus, the disciples, and the Jews, and that without 
this they could not enter the kingdom of heaven : no necessity 
of all this — say Universalists — because the resurrection will do 
it after death. 

But why this people assume so much to be done for the soul, 
in the resurrection, is unaccountable ; when they all know that 
the full extent of the operation of that event, reaches no further 
than to the mere bodies of men, and that of the saints only ; 
whose bodies are to be changed from a state of corruption, to a 



196 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

state of purity and incorruptibility, like Christ's glorious body ; 
while there is not a word spoken about the soul, mind, or spirit, 
in all the account of the operation of the resurrection : — not one 
word ; it is all about the body. Of the wicked, it is not said in 
any part of the Bible, that their vile bodies are to be gloriously 
changed like those of the saints ; but to the contrary : for Daniel 
says expressly, that some — meaning the wicked — shall rise from 
the dust of the earth, with shame, and eternal contempt ; for the 
word eternal is used in the original. The same thing is made 
out by St. John, the Revelator, chap, xx., where we are informed 
that two resurrections are to take place ; the first is to consist of 
all the righteous, in all ages, — and the second of all the wicked : 
there being a thousand years put between the two. St. Paul has 
said the same thing, in amount, long before the book of Revela- 
tions was written ; to which St. John here subscribes : (see 1st 
Thess. xvi.) " For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, 
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump 
of God — and the dead in Christ shall risejirst" It is true St. 
Paul does not state how long first ; but St. John does, and says it 
will be a thousand literal years. Now with this view, it is clear, 
that all the immunities of the first resurrection, in relation to the 
changing of the bodies of the saints, is spoken of them, and them 
only, and that merely of their bodies, while there is no promise 
of such a resurrection, to such as die in their sins. 

If the spiritual conversion of the soul of man to God, by the 
Holy Ghost, is not necessary in order to prepare men for heaven, 
in this life ; relying solely on the resurrection for all that may be 
necessary to be done ; then we clearly see why Universalists de- 
nounce what is commonly believed by the orthodox churches, 
about being born again ; even making ridicule of it, as being the 
whim of fanatics. Universalists contend that it is no matter how 
a man dies — see the same paper, the Universalist Union, before 
alluded to — where Mr. Williamson states that the frame of mind 
in which a man may happen to die, is of no more importance to 
his future happiness, than is the disease of which he may happen 
to die. 

If this is truly so, then it follows that the triumphant deaths 
of all the holy martyrs of every age — including all the apostles, 
with St. Paul, who said he had fought the good fight, and finish- 
ed his course ; when he had death in his view, and but a few 
days before him, triumphed, because, thenceforward, there was 
a crown laid up for him, which he said he was to receive — is to 
be put on a level with the curses, blasphemies, and howlings of 
several famous infidels, whom we can easily name, in their last 
sickness, and at their deaths. Why this difference if the state 
of one's mind indicates nothing in relation to the future, at the 
solemn hour of death? 

Universalists teach that Christ died as a mere martyr, for his 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 197 

opinions, but not as a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of the whole 
world, as the Scriptures state he did, in a multitude of placecs ; 
on whose account alone the opportunity of salvation was made 
possible. The whole drift of all the prophets, wherever Christ 
is alluded to by them, is that he was to die for the people, and 
not on his own account, as a martyr. To this effect, see Daniel 
ix. 26. "And after three score and two weeks (434 years) shall 
Messiah be cut off, (now mind what is said) but not for him- 
self." It would seem that the spirit of inspiration, in this very 
expression, "but not for himself" intends it as a refutation of 
this very Universalist notion, that of Christ dying as a martyr, on 
his own account, and of course accidentally. He contradicts it 
himself; for he says that he had power to lay down his own life, 
and to take it up again. He also says, that no man taketh my 
life from me, except by his permission. But if he died as a mar- 
tyr, then his persecutors took his life, to all intents and purposes, 
which he ought to have prevented, if possible — as all martyrs 
would have done if they could. 

But to this point, Christ, after his resurrection, while teaching 
the two disciples, as they were on their way to Emaus, a small 
town near Jerusalem, told them plainly that Christ ought to suf- 
fer. Now what does he mean by this, except it be understood 
that he suffered a vicarious death, the innocent for the guilty, 
and not for himself, as a martyr? 

The whole force of the New Testament is to this effect ; so 
much so, that his blood is there, often called most precious; 
and as meritorious, availing for the guilty with God, and that 
men are to pray in his name, making mention of his death and 
sufferings, as the cause of gifts and mercies from God to man. 
Universalists, it is true, allow that Christ is a mediator between 
God and man, but in no other sense than any moral teacher is a 
mediator between him and us — inasmuch as he was simply a 
medium of information— a news-bearer, and taught a good sys- 
tem of morality. Deists say the same thing of Christ, who extol 
him equally with Universalists in this respect. As it respects a 
vicarious sacrifice being required of God, on which account he 
might justly extend mercies to rebels, Universalists can have no 
conceptions and believe such an opinion highly ridiculous, and 
derogatory to the character of God. 

Yet the Scriptures say that he was delivered for our offences, 
and by his stripes we are healed ; and that he was stricken of 
God, spit upon and crucified on man's account, and not his own. 

One writer in the paper to which we have before alluded, who 
signs himself L. D. W., says : " The idea of a vicarious atone- 
ment strikes us as highly derogatory to the character of God, 
and injurious to the moral health of man. It supposes God to 
have prepared some tremendous infliction of punishment, and 
that his arm has only been arrested by the interposition of his 



198 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

son, whose blood has flowed from that blow which was the just 
award of the guilty. We confess (he says) our inability to dis- 
cover the beauty and propriety of this system." 

As speaks this man, so say all Universalists, and so say all 
Deists. There'is no difference between them on this subject. 
Universalists are therefore Deists, in the most essential sense of 
the word, and yet would pass for a Christian sect. What du- 
plicity ! what deception ! It is unequalled in the arts of theologi- 
cal knavery. 

If it is true that Christ died as a martyr, simply, and not as a 
sacrifice, and had power to have saved his life, he ought to have 
dene it — or it will be a hard thing to clear him from the guilt of 
suicide. To avoid this, however, Universalists say that he died 
a voluntary martyr — a mode of expression wholly without 
meaning, as it is impossible to have any conceptions of such a 
thing as a voluntary death, which may be avoided, and claim the 
honor of true martyrdom. Christ said to his disciples, when 
they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another ; by which 
we understand him to advise or even command them to live in 
the world as long as possible. But this he did not do himself, 
when persecuted, as he might have done, but gave himself into 
their power on purpose to be put to death for transgressors. But 
if he did not die as a sacrifice, nor as a martyr, in the common 
acceptation of the word, then he is tacitly guilty of suicide, on 
the Universalist view of the subject. 

To say that he died so as to procure the opportunity of rising 
from the dead, for the purpose of bringing this doctrine or belief 
into view, namely, of the resurrection of the human race from 
the dead — and for this alone — it would seem that he died to pro- 
duce a belief already in both the Jewish and Christian churches. 
Martha understood this doctrine; for she said to the Saviour 
after the death of her brother Lazarus, I know he will rise again 
in the resurrection at the last day. But as the orthodox sects 
view this subject, they say he rose from the dead, in order to 
justify such as should believe in the merit of his vicarious death ; 
and for another reason, namely, because it was impossible for 
him to see corruption, or to be holden by the power of death, on 
. account of his being immaculate in character, and as having no 
sin, or a sinful nature, as have the individuals of the whole 
human race besides ; death therefore, had no just claim upon 
him, as death got his power over mortals on account of sin, and 
sin alone. 

Christ did not die as a martyr, either voluntarily or by perse- 
cution, but as a self devoted victim, for the offences of the world, 
and to procure of the satisfied justice of God the opportunity of 
salvation to all such shall have been, or as may be, converted or 
born again, in all the world, in every nation — whether they may 
have heard of Christ or not — according as their situation may be 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 



199 



— and their compliance with the inward motions of the eternal 
spirit, who on the account of the merit of Christ's death, strives 
with every soul of the human race, moving them to do the things 
which are morally right, notwithstanding their education, what- 
ever it may be. This is the importance orthodox Christians 
attach to the death of Jesus ; while Universalists attach no 
importance at all, over that of mere constancy to himself and his 
opinions, a virtue any man may acquire. 

Universalists tell us that they have no conceptions of the pro- 
priety of the innocent suffering for the guilty ; and of Divine 
justice being thus satisfied, in the death of the Son of God, instead 
of the world. That this is the fact, the whole Bible, wherever 
this point is noticed, proves, however it may be above mortal 
conception ; and no doubt is to be classed among the sublimest 
and deepest mysteries of revealed religion ; a trait of character 
which cannot but be expected, when its origin and author are 
so superior to our grade of being, fallen as we are. 

But if one man, touched with sympathy for the distress of 
another, may be permitted to plunge even into danger and death 
for his relief, and no principle of virtue or justice be infringed 
on that account, how is it that God is to be prohibited from an 
act of the kind, when millions on millions are concerned, on the 
charge of injustice ? if he does, how is it that God must not be 
allowed to be as. generous with his delinquent creatures, as man 
may be with his fellows ? Such a procedure as finds fault with 
the sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty, as in the case of the 
death of Christ for the world, would banish every trait of virtu- 
ous generosity and piety, not only from the earth, but from 
heaven also. 

But when such a benefactor is found, and the rescued one, so 
soon as he shall see him, begins to pour contempt upon him, and 
to impugn his reasons for interference, then it is that justice 
resumes his power, and the rescued one is overwhelmed with a 
tenfold wo, proportioned precisely to the happiness which was 
intended him in his rescue ; because ingratitude is found to bud 
and bring forth its bitter fruit, where goodness, meekness, submis- 
sion and repentance, with reformation, should have been produced. 

Such are Universalist sentiments in relation to the rescue of 
the world from the consequences of our first parents' sin ; which 
has procured for us animal life, moral life, and the opportunity of 
eternal life, in their neutralizing power, respecting the full amount 
of what Christ, in his life, his teaching, his death, and his resur- 
rection, has procured and done for man ; because they impugn 
even the divine procedure, in allowing the innocent to suffer for 
the guilty, as laid down in the New Testament, thus shutting the 
door against even the philanthropy and generous benevolence of 
heaven itself in favor of poor mortals, not allowing that a ransom 
is even possible ; contending that each soul of man has no need 



200 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

of this rescue, being just as he ought to be, placed physically 
and morally on the earth as we find we are. 

But as it respects the existence of a hell beyond this life, Mr. 
Ballou, a standard writer of the Universalist order, asserts, and 
challenges all men to show the contrary, that the Scriptures 
speak of no other hell than the grave and a disturbed con- 
science. This is pretty bold, when compared with that which 
is said on the subject by the Saviour, who certainly knew better 
than Ballou, and says that there is such a place, as he was its 
creator, if it exists at all ; as he created all things, except moral 
evil. 

Universalists hold that Jesus Christ, however great, good, or 
miraculous his character and doings, were on earth, that never- 
theless, he was but a created, dependant creature, the same as 
any other man, and that all his power to do miracles, was derived. 
This they believe, or try to believe, if we may believe them, 
notwithstanding their acquaintance with St. Paul's opinion of 
him, to the contrary; which was, that he is the Creator, and 
upholds all things by the word of his power. See Heb. i. 3, 
" Who being the brightness of his (the Father's) glory, and the 
express image of his person, and upholding all things by the 
word of his power : when he had by himself ) purged our sins, 
sit down on the right hand of the majesty on high." In verse 
eight of the same chapter, even God himself calls his son God, 
" But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and 
ever," or eternal. Isaiah, in speaking of him, calls him the 
Mighty God. St. John says that he is Alpha and Omega, the 
beginning and the end. He says of himself, that he had all 
power in heaven and earth. What more is necessary to consti- 
tute him the very God of nature, connected with man — or as it 
is said, God manifested in the flesh ; yet Universalists call him 
a created being, and dependent like other men, simply because 
the human soul which he took, in his manifestation, confesses 
its inferiority to God, and often prayed to him. St. Paul, who 
certainly understood this subject, seems to have anticipated the 
very objections of Universalists to the Deity of Christ, and to the 
mysteries in the Christian religion : see 1st Tim. hi. 16, " With- 
out controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was 
manifest in the flesh." Now to show that Jesus Christ was the 
being to whom St. Paul certainly refers in the above quotation — 
who he calls God in the flesh — we have only to follow him 
through the verse, and see in the end of it, this manifestation 
was received up into glory, or heaven, meaning the ascension of 
our Lord to heaven after his resurrection. They even go so far 
with their neutralising and levelling system of theology, as to 
deny that Christ was miraculously brought into the world, and 
that his natural human body was begotten by an invisible power, 
the Holy Ghost. They say he had a natural father, the same 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 201 

as any other man ; but Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, say he 
had not, but that he was begotten by the Holy Ghost in the womb 
of his virgin mother. 

No doctrine in the whole New Testament is more pointedly 
and fully insisted upon, than this one, the miraculous conception 
and birth of the Saviour, without a natural father, or intervention 
of a man. Yet Universalists deny this, the same as do all Deists 
in all the world ; how is it therefore, that they have a claim to 
be considered a Christian sect 7 why not style themselves Deists, 
differing merely with respect to the resurrection of the dead, and 
the revelation of the Scriptures, but in all things else, alike ? 

But what is the consequence of this belief to the character of 
Jesus Christ ? This is the consequenec ; he is made to be the off- 
spring of illegitimate love : for the Scriptures, as written by the 
four evangelists, are explicit in stating that Joseph, who became 
the husband of Mary, was not the father of her first child, Jesus 
Christ. Now if he was not, who was ? This is unknown, ex- 
cept we receive the account as it is written, that God was his 
father, and that he was begotten by the power of the Highest, 
without tho intervention of man. If Mary was found in a con- 
dition which dissatisfied Joseph, the man who had promised to 
marry her, is it to be supposed that God would send from the 
invisible world an angel, namely, Gabriel, to make Joseph be- 
lieve that the girl was a virgin, and that the cause of his dissatis- 
faction was not her fault, but was of God ? Never. But this 
must be believed, if we are to allow that Universalists are right 
in this thing : namely, that Jesus Christ had a natural father, 
the same as other human beings. 

This most awful sentiment ruins Christianity at its very foun- 
tain, sinking its author, and the author's only earthly parent, his 
virgin mother, to a level with a common prostitute, and her son 
the fruit of that prostitution. There is no way to avoid this hor- 
rible consequence, the very thing all infidels charge upon Chris- 
tianity, in their bitterest moments of derision against revealed 
religion. 

To show that she was previously married, and that Christ 
was a son of that marriage, is impossible ; and even if it was 
possible, yet Christ could not have been the fruit of that or any 
other marriage, because she is said by all the evangelists to have 
been a virgin when she was espoused ; that is, was contracted 
or promised to Joseph : and that she was found in that condition 
after that espousal was made. Now except the thing was of 
God, and that the power of the Highest overshadowed her, and 
produced the infant Saviour in that miraculous manner, then is 
Christianity and its author more polluted at the very four 'am, 
than any of the ancient religions of mankind, whose gods were 
the result of the speculating brains of hypocritical and venial 
priests, who presented them as being half animal and half man ; 



202 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

adapted precisely to the baser passions of fallen human nature, 
inasmuch as it pretends to more sanctity and more purity — even 
to immaculate perfection. This is the reason why it is more 
base, if it is not in all respects literally true, as stated by the evan- 
gelists. 

Now these are the men who say that Christianity is corrupted 
by the orthodox clergy. Of this we leave mankind to be the 
judges. 

See Matth. x. 28, for further proof that there is a hell, not to be 
found in this life : " Fear not them which kill the body, but are 
not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to des- 
troy both soul and body in hell." The same is said by St. Luke, 
xii. 4, 5, " I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that 
kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do : but 
I will forewarn you whom to fear : fear him, who after he hath 
killed, hath power to cast into hell ; yea, I say unto you fear 
him." Now here Ballou, Balfour, and all Universalists, with all 
such persons who as do not believe there is a hell in another 
world, are found at variance with Christ the son of God, on that 
subject. If there is no hell in another world, not even God him- 
self has power to cast either body or soul into it ; a place, or con- 
dition, which does not, nor ever did, or ever can exist, if we are 
to believe Universalists. Consequently that warning of Christ, 
who said I forewarn you whom to fear, is just a solemn nothing. 

But says the Universalist, we do not deny but there is a hell, 
and even more than one ; as there is the grave, which is one ; 
and there is a guilty conscience, */ any body is wicked, and that is 
two ; and there is the ruin of the Jews by the Romans, which is 
three ; and all these in this life. Oh, how extraordinary ; is it 
so, is this the fact ? if so let us try the above Scripture according 
to such a meaning. Fear not them which kill the body, but are 
not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to des- 
troy both soul and body in the grave ; both soul and body in a 
guilty conscience, both soul and body in the destruction of the 
Jews by the Romans ; all three of which is impossible, as it res- 
pects the soul, as the soul is not subject to death, but must remain 
a living principle as long as God endures, as we have already 
proved. Now if there is a hell in which God can destroy the 
soul, and that hell is not in eternity, or in another world, where 
then is it ? It must be found somewhere, or the allusion to such 
a place, or condition, is but a fiction, a mere scarecrow ; which 
idea cannot be ascribed to the Saviour without injury to his char- 
acter ; which, however, is the fair result, if no hell in this life 
can be found, in which God can, if he would, kill the human 
soul. 

But here arises another difficulty for Universalists to clear up, 
which is that of the immortality of the soul, a doctrine they deny, 
believing it dies with the body, and shall be restored again with 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 203 

the body at the resurrection. If this is so, we ask where is the 
fear founded, and upon what ? for if the soul dies, and becomes 
inert with the body, it .cannot suffer ; and therefore has no cause 
to fear even God, though he should kill the body, as the soul 
must die at the same time. But the whole force of the injunc- 
tion is based upon the fact, that the soul does not die with the 
body, but remains a conscious being, or there can be no reason 
in that saying of Christ, " fear him who after he hath killed the 
body, hath power to cast the soul into hell." 

This Scripture proves, both the fact of the ceaseless life 
and nature of the soul of man, and the existence of a hell 
beyond this life ; doctrines which Universalists deny. Man can 
kill the bod)'", but the soul he cannot touch ; yet God can do 
this, and on that account the Saviour admonished his disciples 
to fear that Being. Yet there was no cause for such fear if 
there is no hell after the death of the body ; and if the soul dies 
with the body (a thing utterly impossible, as it is a "living souF 
or principle, which is not said of the body, because it is subject to 
death) there could be no cause for such fear. If the soul dies at 
the time of the death of the body, then the same blow which kills 
the body also kills the soul. And therefore, were this true, man 
can kill the soul, although the Scriptures, as above quoted, de- 
clare that he cannot : — and more than this, Scripture does not 
say that even God can annihilate the soul, — though there is no 
doubt but he can ; but that he can destroy it in hell ; that is, can 
place it in a ceaseless state of ruin, and a ceaseless state of suffer- 
ing. This destruction is infinitely worse than annihilation itself; 
which, could it be, we have no doubt would be resorted to, rather 
than to unlimited suffering in hell, by the Divine Being. 

That the Saviour was speaking of the death of the bodies of 
his disciples, by persecution and martyrdom ; and not of the ruin 
of the body politic, or body religions of the Jews, by the Ro- 
mans, or any other cause, is evident from the context of the sub- 
ject, in the same chapter, in which the above text is found, which 
we have produced as a proof of a hell in another world — see ver- 
ses 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 28 — in which that subject is pursued, and 
finished as follows : " But beware of men, for they will deliver 
you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their syna- 
gogues : and ye shall be brought before governors, and kings for 
my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles : And the 
brother shall deliver up the brother to death; and the father the 
child : and the children shall rise up against their parents, and 
cause them to be put to death : And ye shall be hated of all men 
for my name's sake. But when they persecute you in this city, 
flee ye into another." But notwithstanding all this, he told them 
not to be intimidated from their duty, nor to fear their persecu- 
tors ; but to continue to fear him only who was " able to destroy 

13 



204 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

both soul and body in hell." Now if there is a hell in another 
world, then is there force in that warning ; and if the soul 
continues its consciousness, though the body dies, then is 
there reason to fear, least the soul pass into eternity unpre- 
pared ; and finally be cast into that hell, with its body, at the 
time of the general resurrection and day of judgment, accor- 
ding to the Scriptures. 

Moses, the first writer of the Scriptures, clearly alludes to 
a state of punishment after death — see Deuteronomy, xviii. 
15, 19 — where God himself is the speaker. "The Lord thy 
God will raise up unto thee (the Jews) a prophet from the 
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye 
shall hearken. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will 
not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, 
I will require it of him." Now on this statement of the Al- 
mighty, u I will require it of him," St. Peter, in Acts, iii. 23, 
says, " And it shall come to pass that every soul which will 
not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the 
people." This is what St. Peter seems to understand by the 
words, " I will require it of him ; and carries it out to mean 
the destruction or damnation of such a soul. 

Under the Christian dispensation, we have no intimation 
that if a person refused to believe in Christ, or to hearken to 
his words and practice his principles, that such a person was 
put to death, or even punished in any manner whatever ; as 
the Christian church had no such power given it, either eccle- 
siastically or politically. How then was the thing to be done ? 
how was such a soul to be destroyed or cut off from among 
the people ? There is but one way, namely, that of the dam- 
nation of such a soul in eternity, in accordance with what we 
have alieady quoted, and here repeat: "Fear God who is 
able to destroy both soul and body in hell," in eternity, as 
there is no such hell in this life, in which God will destroy 
such, a soul. 

Now as the teachings of Christianity are directed to indi- 
vidual men, women and children, of a proper age, we cannot 
refer the cutting off such as will not hear that prophet, to the 
nation of the Jews, as a nation exclusively, and that this was 
done in their destruction as a nation by the Romans ; we say 
it cannot be referred to them alone ; because the statement is 
broad, extending to all the souls of the human race, who have 
it in their power to hear this prophet. Were we to restrict 
the fulfilment of this denunciation to that nation only, and to 
no other persons of the human race, then we should falsify 
the text, which says, " that every soul which will not hear 
that prophet, shall be cut off from among the people ;" and as 
we consider, means Gentiles as well as Jews, and all people 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES, , 205 

of all ages, who have the opportunity of hearkening to his doc- 
trines. If the words every soul, are to be regarded, then it 
will follow that the injunction is wholly of an individual char- 
acter, and not exclusively national. 

Now, while life lasts, no man is cut off from among the 
people, even though he will not hearken to this prophet ; we 
are compelled, therefore, in order to sustain the veracity of 
God, to carry this matter into another world after death, 
where such souls as had the opportunity of hearkening to 
that prophet and would not, shall be cut off from among the 
people of the saints of the Most High, and destroyed in hell ; 
in which, it is written, that God is able to destroy both soul 
and body. 

But before we leave this subject, it will be proper to exam- 
ine the famous text upon which Universalists ground their 
doctrine of a conscience hell, for sins committed ; by which 
expiation or release is obtained, and the sinner made righteous 
in the sight of God, but not by the blood and merit of Jesus 
Christ. These people believe that sin brings with itself its 
own punishment, its own whip, or correction ; as that when 
one sins, he immediately is distressed in his mind on account 
of it, and that distress, uneasiness, ordisquitude, is the very 
expiation for the sin itself; by which we perceive that sin is 
its own Saviour, and works its own cure ; and this is what 
they call one kind of hell. If this were so, it might be called 
a most glorious hell; and so far as we are able to discover, 
might have saved the Lord of life and glory, the trouble of 
coming into the world to die for sinners, and the horrid ago- 
nies of the cross by the Romans. No man who can think, 
will ever suppose that Christ came into the world, honored 
the law of God, which Adam, with all his posterity have dis- 
honored, and then by his own voluntary act submit to a 
shameful and cruel death ; and all for no other purpose than 
to procure for sinners the opportunity of suffering for their 
sins in their conscience ; a thing which would have been just 
as sure, on the principle of justice, as if he had not thus came, 
and thus suffered for sin and sinners. On this plan, therefore, 
as propagated by Universalists, this conscience hell, is the 
only and true Saviour from sin, in which there is neither 
necessity of belief or disbelief, knowledge or ignorance, re- 
pentance or pardon ; as whoever sins, creates in and with 
that sin, his own remedy. This is the nullification of all law 
and of all penalty, with a vengeance. 

But the famous text, by which Universalists prove that the 
worst hell there is in existence, (and had king David for its 
tenant, at a certain time ; out of which he escaped, however, 



206 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



and all in this life,) is found in the 86th Psalm, 13th verse, 
as follows : " For great is thy mercy toward me ; and thou 
hast delivered my soul from the lowest helV Now, say 
Universalists, in a way of triumph, is there any worse hell 
than the lowest one. Here they fix themselves, to this 
point, and proceed to interpret all other texts of Scripture, 
which speak of a hell, by this, as by the great, and only con- 
text on this subject, — by which they ascertain it to be a far 
worse hell than the grave ; and yet, strange to tell, it is pre- 
ferred to the grave by them, by an immense difference, after 
all ; as it is found by experiment, that sinners can live in it 
much better than they can in the grave. 

It is highly proper that we enquire what is meant by this 
lowest hell, out of which David was delivered ; — whether it 
was temporal sorrows and affliction, or a guilty conscience, on 
account of sin, from which he was so miraculously delivered 
by the providence and inrerposition of his God ? as we deny 
its having been the latter in any degree whatever. All men 
who are at all acquainted with the history of king David, 
from the time of his victory over Goliah of Gath, till he was 
crowned king of Israel, know well through what difficulties 
and opposition of enemies — with Saul at their head — he passed 
to the throne. Seven years, or nearly so, he was treated as 
an outlaw, and compelled to flee his country, pursued by one 
continued storm of persecution, of hair-breadth escapes, in 
fleeing from mountain to mountain, and from cave to cave — 
pursued, w ? aylaid, ambushed, and hunted like a wild beast, or 
a partridge, asleep or awake — pressed on every side by con- 
tinual dangers — in perpetual fear of the assassin's dagger — the 
emissaries of Saul. On these very subjects — and relating to 
these very troubles, several of the Psalms were written, which 
describe his situation, his distress ; as also the many miracu- 
lous deliverances which God the afforded him from his pur- 
suers. In one of these Psalms, is found this famous text, as 
quoted above — namely : u thou hast delivered my soul from 
the lowest helV y This is descriptive, and comparative lan- 
guage ; by which is understood his final victory over all his 
enemies, and persecutors of the house, and kingdom of Saul, 
and of his exhaltation to the throne of Israel. His troubles 
during that time were so great, that he has used a figure of 
speech, by which they are shown to have been worse than 
death, or the grave could could have been to him, at that 
time. 

That his afflictions during that period — a lapse of nearly 
seven years — are meant bv these strong words: the lowest 
hell, we think we prove by the residue of the chapter, imme- 
diately following that statement,— which is : "O God, the 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 207 

proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men 
have sought after my soul [life.] But thou, O Lord, art 
full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous 
in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon 
me ; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of 
thy handmaid. Shew me a token for good, that they which 
hate me may see it and be ashamed." Do not the above 
words plainly allude to his temporal distresses at that time ? 
if not, how could he pray to be delivered from the assemblies 
of violent men, and from them that hated him, and sought 
after his soul or life, to take it away from the earth ? who did 
this but Saul and his warriors, in their zeal to kill David ; 
because he had been appointed to the kingdom by the prophet 
Samuel, some time before he had the fight with Goliah ? In 
this class of the Psalms of David, which describe his sorrows 
of that time, there are various direct. allusions, in which he 
praises God for signal help, and deliverances in battle from 
death, and from being taken by the soldiers of Saul ; see 
chapter lv. of his Psalms, 18, 21, "He hath delivered my 
soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there 
were many (invisible beings, or angels of God) with me. 
He (Saul) hath put forth his hands against such as be at 
peace with him, (meaning himself,) he hath broken his cove- 
nant, (with me David.) The words of his mouth were 
smoother than butter ; but war (murder) was in his heart; 
his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords." 
By the same rule of comparison that he calls Saul's words 
drawn swords, he calls his troubles with that monarch hell, 
and the sorrows of hell which compassed him round about. 
If David had not believed there is a hell in which there are 
sorrows, he could never have used the word as descriptive of 
his own troubles ; but the grave, in this comparison, is ex- 
cluded, as there are no sorrows in the grave, work nor device. 
But from the account as given by David himself, there can be 
nothing clearer than that he meant the deceit and treachery 
of Saul, his father-in-law, who had several times broken his 
covenants with David, by which his life was endangered, but 
was as often saved by the kind and noble hearted Jonathan, the 
son of Saul. In the 56th Psalm, 11,12, he says, " In God have 
I put my trust, I will not be afraid of what man can do unto 
me. For thou hast delivered my soul (life) from death," 
which Saul and his assassins were in pursuit of. In the 116th 
Psalm, 3, 4, 8, he has the same afflictions in view, which drove 
him from the sanctuary of his religion, to dwell among pagans 
and idolators, where he remained till Saul's death. There he 
says, "The sorrows of death compassed him, and the pains 
of hell got hold of him, I found trouble and sorrow." But 



208 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

not the troubles of a guilty conscience, as there is no confes- 
sion of sins, or of any particular sin, in any of this class of his 
Psalms, as there are in those of his writing after the murder 
of Uriah, and abduction of Uriah's wife. Sin and a distressed 
conscience, therefore, was not his trouble at that time ; but 
his outlawed condition, being compelled even to sleep with 
his life in his hand, as he fled hither and thither from his pur- 
suers. But to settle the question whether this lowest hell, 
out of which David was delivered, was a guilty conscience or 
not, we bring the 22d chapter of 2d Samuel, in which it is 
plainly stated that this hell was the persecutions of Saul. 
" And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song, in 
the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of 
all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. And he said, 
the Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer ; The 
God of my rock (or hope) in him will I put my trust : He is 
my shield, and the horn (hope) of my salvation, my high 
tower and my refuge, my saviour; thou savedst me from vio- 
lence, (from Saul and his dagger,) I will call on the Lord, 
who is worthy to be praised ; so shall I be saved from my 
enemies. When the waves of death made me afraid, the sor- 
rows of hell compassed me about, the snares of death pre- 
vented (or were aboutj me. 17, 18, He sent from above, he 
took me ; he drew me out of many waters. He delivered 
me from my strong enemy, ( Saul, ) and from them that hated 
me, for they were too strong for me. 1 ' And to show that 
these sorrows of David were not on account of sin, he says, 
verses 21, 22, "The Lord rewarded me according to my 
righteousness ; according to the cleanness of my hands hath 
he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, 
and have not wickedly departed from my God." This cannot 
have been said of Christ, as if it were possible for him to 
have wickedly departed from his God ; though it is likely there 
are some allusions to the day and time of Christ in this class 
highly descriptive Psalms ; but chiefly it alludes to the seven 
years persecution of Saul, and other enemies, before he came 
to the throne, over whom he finally triumphed. He says, 
verse 41, 42, u Thou hast also given me the neck of mine 
enemies, the heathen, that I may destroy them that hate me. 
Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did 
stamp them as the mire of the street." This could have no 
allusion to Christ, as thus he came not to do, to his enemies 
of this life ; but David, as a conqueror of many nations round 
about, may on that account, be said thus to have done to his 
enemies. 

In the above examination, we feel confident that we have 
si: own clearly, that the lowest hell out of which God deliv- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 209 

ered David, was not any conscience suffering, as imagined by 
Universalists ; wherefore they mqfit look for some other pas- 
sage, by which to prove that the worst hell there is in exis- 
tence is in this life, as from that passage it cannot be made 
out. But as his sorrows were of an exceedingly aggravated 
nature, he was justified in seizing upon the strongest lan- 
guage, and in making allusions to the worst of sufierings, even 
to the sufferings of the damned. 

Now if any Universalist should happen to agree with us 
in this exposition, namely, that it was not from the sufferings 
of a guilty conscience that David was at that time delivered, 
but from personal afflictions of an outward and domiciliary 
character, then such Universalists will admit that this lowest 
hell consisted of mere trouble, such as may fall upon the most 
pure character ; and will be compelled to place such troubles 
in the scale of human suffering in this life, above even the 
sufferings of a guilty conscience, and presents a problem of 
rather a vexatious aspect ; for as we understand Universalists, 
it is sin which produces the worst hell that can exist ; while 
according to David, it is temporal affliction ; if it be disal- 
lowed that he borrowed his idea of hell from the belief of the 
existence of a hell in eternity, into which, in a certain place, 
David himself has said, all the wicked, and the nations who 
forget God, shall be finally turned. Psalms, ix. 17. 

That there is such a hell in another world, is no where 
contradicted in the Scriptures ; which, we should think, the 
all seeing eye of inspiration would have done, if there is not ; 
as the error is a monstrous one in theology, and could not 
have escaped the foreknowledge of God, nor been allowed to 
remain unforetold, as other errors are in relation to what is 
essential to be believed or rejected, and that there is no hell 
is very essential with Universalists. We know as well as 
Universalists, that the word hell, in many places in the Scrip- 
tures, means no more than the grave, and very great afflic- 
tions in this life, &c. ; but we also know, and Universalists 
know, and might believe, that the word occurs, in many 
places, and in such connection, as that allusions to the grave, 
a guilty conscience, or to earthly afflictions of any kind, are 
as impossible as that the word should allude to heaven, or 
any other condition of happiness. 

Is the hell of which David speaks, as just above quoted, 
the grave !■ if so, then as before stated, the righteous have as 
much to fear as have the wicked, and thither they must as 
surely descend. Was this hell of which David speaks, the 
afflictions of this life ? if so, then the righteous are even 
more exposed, and worse tormented in this hell than are the 
wicked; for it is written in Scripture of them, that they " are 



210 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



not troubled as are other men, neither are they plagued as 
other men ; and that there are no bonds (or fears of hell) in their 
death." Psalms, lxxiii. 4, 5. From these passages, it is evident 
that it is best to be of the number of the wicked, if there is no hell 
to be feared beyond this life, as by that means, much suffering 
for righteousness sake would be avoided. 

But respecting this hell's consisting of fire and brimstone, many 
eminent men of the orthodox sects have doubted, and wholly 
deny its being composed of those materials, or of any other mate- 
rial, yet believe in its existence. But how such an opinion is to 
be maintained, we should imagine very difficult to make out ; 
seeing the Scriptures of the New Testament, as well as the old, 
speak of it as having been prepared, or created. These imag- 
ine that all the strong and specific language in the Bible, about 
hell, is but figurative, and intend nothing more than a state of 
mind wholly cast off from God, and abandoned to irretrievable 
and incessant depravity and despair in eternity. But this cannot 
be, as in such a case the Scripture would not say that hell was 
ordained of old ; see Isaiah, xxx. 33, and in Matthew, xxv. 41, 
that it was prepared or created for the devil and his angels. If 
hell is but a state, or condition of mind only, how are we to im- 
agine such a state as having been prepared beforehand, by the 
Divine Being? Mental suffering does not, and cannot exist, 
beforehand ; the idea is as impossible as preposterous. It cannot 
be said of God that he has prepared a condition of mental suffer- 
ing, as being distinct and apart from the mind or spirit which 
may suffer ; for mental distress is dependent on the being of 
mind. It cannot be said that God made fallen angels wicked ; 
and unless this can be said, it cannot be allowed that he pre- 
pared their punishment, if it is but of a mental nature ; for their 
punishment, in such a case, is in their own wickedness and men- 
tal suffering. 

That the wicked suffer mentally, we do not deny, except in 
those cases where they are past feeling ; but that God created or 
prepared mental suffering, we do deny, as that is a consequence 
following on the commission of sin, and cannot precede it ; on 
which account it needed not to be created or prepared by the Su- 
preme Being, as it is of spontaneous growth, from its own origin, 
that of sin and rebellion. 

If the hell of eternity is wholly mental, — how is it then that 
the bodies of the wicked are to be cast into it ? For it is said — 
as we have already frequently quoted — that the Saviour caution- 
ed his disciples to fear him who is able to destroy both body and 
soul in hell, which cannot be done, if there is no literal hell, as 
the body cannot suffer mentally and knowingly. If the terms 
fire and brimsone, lake of fire, hell fire, the unquenchable fire, 
and eternal fire, are all to.be understood as merely figuritive, we 
ask, what is gained by it? This, and this only: hell is much 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 211 

worse than the literal sense of the Bible makes it to be ; and 
what right has any man to do this ? But the truth is, all such 
persons as thus believe, do by no means intend to lessen the hor- 
rors of that state ; yet they do so, in the most direct sense ; as 
it is impossible for the mind to conceive of mental suffering as 
acutely as it can of the suffering of the senses. To prove this, we 
will state a case, thus : let a person who is endowed with the 
powers of eloquence, to such a degree, that an audience consist- 
ing of thousands, are carried in his flights of language to the 
very heavens, and made almost to feel, to see, and to hear, the 
unutterable things of which St. Paul speaks, which he saw in 
Paradise — let him paint the horrors of war till the blood freezes 
in the veins, or the fountains of the head gush out in tears, at 
the recital of pain and suffering ; let such an one describe — as is 
often done — the deep, deep chasms of hell — consisting of burn- 
ing flames which never go down — of waves, of gulphs, and 
floods of rolling fiery billows, that sweep in ceaseless tempests 
over that dismal ocean of wo, without end, — till the very hairs 
of the head stand erect, and the blood rushes to the heart for shel- 
ter — with eyeballs distended in their sockets — thrilling soul and 
body with agonies intolerable ; but the instant it is said, by way 
of paraphrase, by the orator, that all this is but a figure, the 
mind and body, in a moment, are released, as from the wreck, 
and lose their tension — while a sensation of comfort passes over 
the mind, on account of the transition from fact, to that which 
is merely a figure. A figure is infinitely less, in every sense of 
the word, than the thing it signifies ; on which account, those 
among the ortthodox, who teach that hell is not literally what it 
is stated to be in the bible, throw it so far beyond all human con- 
ception, that it ceases to have any effect ; and is of just as much 
force to deter from the commission of sin, as the threatnings of a 
parent of condign punishment would be to an infant of a day 
old : which is just none at all. We therefore, believe it to be of 
literal existence — according to the word and letter of the Bible. 
Such a place is suited to the purposes of suffering and punish- 
ment of both soul and body ; while a mental state of distress is 
adapted to but one, and besides, it is anti-Scriptural ; as no man 
has a right to exceed the letter of Scripture, in his descriptions, 
either of hell or heaven — nor yet to fall below that letter. Such 
of the orthodox sects, as flinch in their faith of a literal hell, and 
are ashamed of its horrors, and would fain hide themselves 
under a figure, are doing the cause of religious truth no good ; 
as by such a course, the sanctions of moral law are greatly lessen- 
ed, if not entirely taken away, on account of this inconceivable 
figurability. Tangible objects — such as fire and brimstone, or 
any thing else which is matter — can never be used as figures of 
mental distress, or the sufferings of spirit or mind, because they 
are not in any sense similar to each other. The howling of the 



212 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

winds, the commotions of flood in uproar, the tumbling of moun- 
tains or worlds to atoms, or the rage of oceans of flame, fed by 
the combustion of the universe, could be no figure of mental 
ruin ; as no conception thereby is obtained of such a condition. 

The opinion of the existence of such a place, is coeval with 
human existence ; and seems exactly adapted to our condition 
under the Divine government : as from this idea, all the force of 
moral law is derived, and even the force of human laws ; for 
what human law is that, in any nation — in any age of the world, 
which has no penal sanction. The belief, therefore, in the ex- 
istence of this great and terrible sanction of the Divine govern- 
ment, is but in accordance with the fitness of things in every age 
of the earth, and ascends in importance, as it is adapted to the 
immensity of the great universe of God. 

If it be said that the doctrine of the existence of a hell in anoth- 
er world, is of no importance to the inducement of a good life in 
this, then it may be said with equal truth, that penal sanctions, as 
it respects human laws, are of no importance in their observance 
among men, which were a man to assert, he would be set down as 
a fool — even by Universalists, themselves. Is it not, therefore, 
proper to believe, that God, the Almighty Ruler of the whole uni- 
verse, is as strict in his sanction of his laws as man is, and in- 
finitely more so, and that from this fact, the very idea, as 
well as the necessity of penal sanction, was derived to human 
society. 

Concerning this place, it is said in Psalms, that — " the wicked 
shall be turned into" it, "with all the nations that forget God." 
Now, how is this ? Are they to be emptied out into infinite 
space, like a bag of chaff, to wander where they will ? Then, 
infinite space is hell ; which cannot be. By this remark of inspi- 
ration, it would seem they are to be in company : and as finite 
beings are of necessity local, then this hell is a location, — which 
cannot be said of infinite space : which is not a location, but is 
its exact opposite in its nature : as that which is everywhere 
present, cannot be a location. Now, as the bodies of the wicked 
are to accompany their minds ; and as soul and body, both are 
local, it follows, that the hell into which they are to be turned, is 
also local, and if local, then it is of necessity literal, and if liter- 
al, it was of necesity created, or prepared ; as the Scripture of St. 
Matthew says, it was for the devil and his angels, into which this 
earth, at the day of judgment, is to be cast ; and also all other 
worlds, if any there are, or may be, which shall apostatize — will, 
it is likely, be also cast, at the respective times of their reckoning 
with the offended Creator. 

Thus we have made a few remarks on the belief which some 
orthodox persons entertain, that the strong language of Scrip- 
ture, namely : that of fire and brimstone, is wholly figurative, — 
,which opinion cannot be otherwise than an ti- Scriptural. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 213 

That this hades, which is however quite another thing, was 
in the bowels of the earth, was believed by the ancient Greeks, 
before the Christian era, whither the souls of the wicked after 
death were sent, and was by them called Tartarus ; where, in 
this dungeon of the globe, they are bound in penal chains, with- 
out hope or mitigation of wo. But how came the Greeks by 
such an opinion in their religion ? Very easily, as some parts of 
the Old Testament, to wit, the book of Genesis, and of Job, 
which were written sixteen hundred years before the Christian 
era, and other parts, as Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteron- 
omy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, the book of Psalms, Proverbs, and 
Ecclesiastes ; a thousand years, and some of these last mentioned 
more than a thousand years before that time ; in which books 
such an idea is frequently inculcated, and plainly stated, as in 
Job and Psalms, as before quoted, from which such Greeks as 
could understand the Hebrew might have derived it. This 
opinion is also taught more or less in several of the prophets af- 
ter the time of David and Solomon, especially by Isaiah. It is 
also recorded in the Book of Wisdom, in the Apocraphy ; which 
if not of inspired authority, shows, however, that the writers of 
the book, even four hundred years before the Christian era, be- 
lieved this doctrine. 

Socrates, the greatest moral philosopher of ancient Greece, be- 
lieved, not only in the immortality of the soul, but in this Tar- 
tarus, and in rewards and punishments in another world, whose 
remarks on that subject to his pupils and disciples at the very 
time of his death, were as follows : " Set not too high a value 
upon your children, your life, or anything in this world, as 
upon justice : that when you appear before the tribunal of 
Pluto, '{the king or God of hell) you may not be at a 
loss to defend yourself in the presence of your judges." Di- 
rectly after this, he adds, that such as will live in despite to the 
laws of justice in this world, shall have the laws for their enemy ; 
" and when you are dead, our sisters the laws in the regions 
below, will be as little favorable to you" Rollin, vol. 4, p. 36. 
It is impossible to understand this great and renowned man, 
who lived over four hundred years before Christ but of such a 
hell, or Tartarus, as existing in the bowels of the globe. 

The Greeks were amazing in their love of knowledge, and 
travelled everywhere in its pursuit ; and what should hinder their 
knowing the theology of the Jews ? as it was an easy matter for 
them to go to Jerusalem, which in those ages was more famous 
for its religious knowledge, than any other city or country on the 
globe. How could a Greek understand anything else, than that 
such a place is in the bowels of the earth ; from reading Isaiah in 
the Hebrew, who wrote six hundred years before Christ. See 
chap. xvi. 9, where hell from beneath, is said to have been moved 
on the occasion of the death of one of the kings of Babylon. 



214 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

What could they understand from the words hell from beneath, 
but that it was in the earth, which they called Tartarus. That 
the Jews believed this opinion long before Christ, we show from 
the prayer of king Manasses, while at Babylon as a captive, a 
sentence of which reads thus : " Be not angry with me forever, 
by reserving evil for me ; neither condemn me into the lower 
parts of the earth." See Apochraphy. Which prayer is al- 
luded to in 2d Chronicles, xxviii. 13. Manasses had been ex- 
tremely wicked as a king at Jerusalem, and had caused his peo- 
ple even to excel the very heathen in idolatrous abominations ; 
which, when he went a captive to Babylon, he repented of and 
prayed, not to be cut off and sent down to Tartarus, or the lower 
parts of the earth, which prayer was heard ; as he was restored 
finally to Judea again, and passed the residue of his days in acts 
of righteousness. His prayer, therefore, cannot be understood 
as extorted by the mere fear of death and the grave ; as he knew 
he must die finally, as well as others ; but rather from a divine 
conviction of sin, and the dread of damnation in another world, 
on which account he prayed against so dreadful an end, and was 
heard. But as corroborative and also as proof positive of the 
truth of this belief, we bring the remarkable statement of St. 
Peter; by whom in the Greek this word Tartarus, is used, to 
denote the place to which the fallen angels were doomed. See 
2d Peter ii. 4. " For if God spared not the angels that (who) 
sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus" — which is translated 
hell in the English, and certainly means more than the grave in 
the Greek, and of course must also in the English, or any other 
language. 

By this expression of St. Peter in the Greek, it is the opinion 
of Adam Clarke, as he understood the Greek well, that he meant 
a place of darkness and wretchedness, from which it is impossi- 
ble for them to escape . That the thing is true, and that there is 
a Tartarus, or hell, in the bowels of this earth, where the fallen 
angels, such as are allowed to be here, are liable to be sent, be- 
sides the hell which was prepared expressly for them somewhere 
in infinite space, to which they must all go at the day of judg- 
ment. See Luke viii. 31. " And they (the evil spirits which had 
possessed the man among the tombs) besought him (Christ) that 
he would not command them to go out into the deep." This 
deep against which they prayed, could not have been the lake 
Genesareth, nor yet the ocean, because to go into the waters was 
the very thing they desired, which they did, in company with a 
great herd of swine; wherefore, their apprehensions were 
directed to the deep of Tartarus in the fires of the globe, in 
its centre or internal parts, or their request had no meaning at all. 

But although we believe in this prison-house ef the souls of 
the wicked, where they are and shall be confined till the day of 
judgment, and that it is in the subterranean fires and caverns of 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 215 

the globe ; yet by no means do we entertain any such idea as 
that such a condition is a purgatory, as held by the Catholics ; 
but is used only as the anti-chamber to a further and final dam- 
nation, at the time of the end of the world. If the idea is horri- 
ble, we have it to say that there is laid no necessity upon any hu- 
man or angelic creature to qualify himself for such a condition, 
for such an awful end ; and that there is a heaven as glorious as 
hell is horrible ; which all creatures who are now lost, both an- 
gelic and human, might have secured by proper attention to the 
means afforded. It is in the kingdom of grace as in the kingdom 
of nature. God has bestowed an infinity of blessings and mer- 
cies which are adapted to the support of all the powers of our 
animal natures ; yet though this is done, he will feed, clothe, 
comfort nor house any man, only as he shall seize upon the cir- 
cumstances and conditions of things by which he is surrounded. 
So it is as it relates to the avoiding this terrible hell and Tartarus 
of which we are treating in this work, and of securing a place in 
heaven ; we have only to lay hold of the hope set before us, and 
take advantage of the circumstances of mercy which God has 
provided in his Son, by which means salvation may be secured, 
which fact is sufficiently redeeming in its nature and end, to 
counterbalance the exposedness there is of falling into the other 
extreme, which is damnation. 



Respecting whether other worlds may have been destroyed 
as this is to be by fire, and some proofs of such occurrences 
according to late astronomical discoveries. 

But if there are other worlds which are peopled, and any of 
them have sinned as we have done, it follows therefore, that there 
may have been, and yet may be, many days of judgment such 
as is to take place respecting this world on which we live. If 
so, then may we not inquire whether they were, or shall be 
tempted as Eve was, by a devil ? To which we reply, that from 
the time of the fall of the angels till the day of the judgment of 
this earth, there is no doubt but Satan, with his fallen associate 
spirits have been, and now are permitted to be the triers of the 
heads of the people of all worlds. But how many have withstood 
his wiles, as Eve should have done, we cannot tell ; but at the time 
of the judgment day of this world, it appears that the permissive 
wanderings of Satan and his associate powers is to be ended, as 
he and they are to be shut up in the bottomless pit, the hell which 
was prepared for the devil and his angels originally, from which 
he and his companions are never to be released. For which rea- 
son it would appear that from thence forward, after that time, their 



216 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

blasting influence is no more to be feared or felt ; a new era of 
things or a new dispensation of eternity is to commence ; when, 
thereafter, a new mode of trial, or of probationary procedure is to 
be entered upon, with respect to any new worlds which thereaf- 
ter may be created and peopled. In order that immortal intelli- 
gences may pass through a 'probationary state, and be tried as to 
their fealty, with respect to any law of God, we are not to sup- 
pose a Satan and evil spirits necessary. Yet as these were found 
in a state of apostacy and rebellion against God and all his. works, 
they have been allowed to be our triers or tempters, as well it is 
likely as the inhabitants of all other worlds, and will still be al- 
lowed so to do if any more worlds may be created and peopled 
before their final doom in the bottomless pit. Neither are we to 
believe that the devils or fallen angels, by so doing have served 
God in his purposes, or fulfilled any wish or decree of his : but 
as their natures are now evil, and that in the extreme, and ever 
bent by inclination to do injury, out of revenge and malice to 
the Divine Being, this disposition has been permitted to be the 
tempters or triers of the free-will or free-agency of such as have 
been placed in a probationary condition, of lower orders than 
themselves. But though they have been allowed to be the 
tempters of all worlds, as yet created, we know not whether they 
have succeeded to introduce sin and ruin in any other globe than 
this on which we dwell. Yet we fear that such is the truth, and 
the following is our reason for such fear : " It is an extraordina- 
ry fact, that within the period of the last century, not less than 
thirteen stars in different constellations seem totally to have disap- 
peared ; forty to have changed their magnitudes, by becoming 
much larger, while others have dwindled away to mere specks in 
the firmament, compared with their former size ; while there has 
apappeared ten new stars, where heretofore there was nothing. 
Several of these so disappearing, exhibited all the signs of confla- 
gration, seen even at mid-day, appearing some a laaiger and some 
a shorter time, then disappearing forever." Good's Book of Na- 
ture, p. 35. (See the Plate, which shows the descent of such 
globes to hell as have had their day of judgment.) 

From this fact, we conclude that those stars which have dis- 
appeared, have been destroyed by fire, as this is to be, at the last 
day, and consequently that the beings which inhabitated them 
have sinned as we have done, and have been judged; the good 
saved and the bad cast away, according to the unalterable pro- 
cedure of the Eternal. The appearance of those new stars, 
shows also, that the great work of creation is still going on in 
the various regions of infinite space, which can never be filled 
up, though multiplied, a million a second, without end. But 
when it is considered that those stars which have thus disap- 
peared were suns in the firmament, and gave light each to a 
system of worlds or planets which moved about them, then the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 219 

idea of the ruin of so many systems enhances the horror of the 
reason of that ruin ; which must have been sin, as we see no 
reason why they should be destroyed, if not on that account. 
The appearance of those ten new stars, shows that ten new suns 
have been created, with ten new systems revolving about them ; 
but on account of their distance from this earth, their planets or 
satelites are not discernible, while the suns are. The forty 
which have changed their positions, have been differently ar- 
ranged by the Creator, merely for order's sake, and to restore the 
balance of the stars, as dictated by the principles of attraction and 
repulsion, the unalienable laws of matter. 

In corroboration of the above opinions, we will mention that 
in many parts of the world, in various ages, there has fallen to 
the earth, singly and showers, stones of considerable size, weigh- 
ing from seven to two hundred lbs. ; and in on one instance — 
April 5, 1825 — in South America, there fell to the earth from 
the atmosphere, a body of iron of seventy cubic feet dimensions, 
weighing several tons. 

In one instance, but a few years since, there was an immense 
rock, imagined to be about a quarter of a mile in length — which 
in descending from the regions above, with a velocity altogether 
inconceivable, dipt into our atmosphere, but with such violence 
that it glanced away (the same as a stone glances on the water, 
when thrown swiftly,) into the regions of space again ; but 
whether it returned by the earth's attraction, and fell into the sea, 
or on some unknown parts of the earth, is unknown. 

The volcanoes of the moon, it is conjectured by some, are the 
origin of those stones ; but by others, that they may have been 
thrown off from worlds in a state of dissolution by fire, the frag- 
ments of which fly in all directions — some reaching distant 
worlds, which might intercept their courses ; while other frag-^ 
ments are still flying, having met with no interruption ; and will 
continue to fly forever, unless impeded by some other body in 
space. 

For a particular account of all the instances on record, res- 
pecting the fall of stones from the heavens, their weight, number, 
&c^ see Adam Clarke's Commentary on the 10th chapter of 
Joshua, Old Testament. The moon, though not in a state of 
ruin, as supposed by some, is nevertheless, no doubt in a condi- 
tion of perpetual change and eruption on its surface. This 
appears, when viewed through the most powerful telescopes ; as 
the moon's surface is exceedingly broken and interspersed by 
pointed mountains, deep vallies, and small bodies of water. If 
earth and water are found there, which is evident from its ap- 
pearance, then there must be vegetation ; and if vegetation, then 
animal life ; and if animal life, there must be, of necessity, rea- 
sonable beings, or all these things there exist in vain, so far as 
the moon's existence can be said to glorify God, only as seen by 



220 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

the inhabitants of distant worlds. Those reasonable beings are, 
therefore, no doubt just such beings as inhabit this earth, subject 
to all the laws of nature that we are, and to the moral government 
of God, equally with us ; as for what other purpose than the 
developement of intellectual beings, can the creation of any globe 
of the universe be called forth ? 

It is also our opinion, that all such worlds as have, or may yet 
sin, have been, and will continue to be, removed out of their 
orbits, and cast into this lake of fire, as we are sure is to be the 
case with this, at the last day, as before argued. This lake, sea, 
or ocean of fire, is no doubt situated so far from the other parts 
of the universe, that the power of attraction as existing between 
the worlds of the universe, cannot reach it; where it remains, 
resting on its own centre, in the great vortex of space, without 
motion or revolution; on which account it may be spoken of 
with an emphasis as horrible as eternal, that it is the place of 
outer darkness, and of hopeless damnation. As it respects those 
ten new systems of worlds, there is no doubt that Satan has long 
ere this time visited them, as he did this world as soon as it was 
made, for the purpose of introducing sin and ruin ; but whether 
he has succeeded, as in the case of Adam and Eve, can never be 
known till the day of eternity ; when the mysteries of that now 
impervious state no doubt shall be revealed, so far as shall be for 
the happiness of the good, but not of the bad, who shall never 
know anything of the glory of God's power, except their own 
hopeless and lost condition. But as to those thirteen systems 
which have passed away, there can be no doubt but he has suc- 
ceeded to seduce them, or they would not have been destroyed, 
but continued, as the places of origin to human souls and bodies, 
while eternity should endure, as would have been the case with 
this world if it had not sinned. 

But, was not sin necessary here, in order that death might 
relieve the earth of its surplus numbers : as death is the conse- 
quence of sin ? We answer — No ! Sin was not necessary for 
this, nor for any other good purpose ; because it was in the pow- 
er of God to translate the eldest inhabitants of the globe, as their 
numbers should approach an inconvenient amount of popula- 
tion, as is shown by the translation of Enoch and Elijah. The 
same doctrine may be applied to all worlds, which have, do now, 
or may yet exist, which have not and may not sin. But what is 
translation? It is the instantaneous change of a corporeal and 
tangible body, to a spiritual and supernatual condition, so as to be 
placed above the ordinary laws of nature, as now developed ; not 
being subject to gravitation, to thirst, to hunger, or to be injured 
by any of the elements of nature, as the winds, water, or fire, but 
fitted to exist in a superhuman condition, altogether invisible — 
the same as was the body of Jesus Christ after his resurrection. 
We do not however, infer from this superhuman condition — 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 22l 

which would have endowed such as would have been translated, 
or shall endow the human race, when raised from the dead — that 
the elements of hell will not be able to effect the souls and bodies 
of the wicked in that condition ; which hell, however, we do not 
allow, is any part of nature ; but exists unconnected with any 
and all things but itself. 

On this view, what immense hosts, what unnumbered and in- 
finite myriads of translated and intellectual beings are. every 
moment rushing from all points to the throne of God, which is 
the centre of the universe, and region of the heaven of the holy 
angels, and of all who are, or will be saved. But if this hell, 
which was prepared for the devil and his angels, is to be the 
receiver of all sinning worlds, will it not be greatly enlarged from 
period to period, as such worlds shall be cast therein * This will 
follow of necessity : which idea, it is not impossible but both 
Isaiah and Habakkuk have alluded to (see Isaiah, chap. v. 14,) 
« Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth 
without measure : and their glory, and their multitude, and their 
pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it." Also Habak- 
kuk, ii. 5. — " Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is 
a proud man, neither keepeth he at home, who enlargeth his 
desire as hell, and is as deatfe, and cannot be satisfied." Now if 
it be said of these passages, that they allude solely to the grave, 
then those two prophets have said no more than that the wicked 
shall die a temporal death ; which, however, is to happen also to 
the righteous ; on which account, hell enlargeth herself as much 
for the one as for the other. It remains, therefore, that this hell, 
which may be enlarged, — may be thus enlarged by the accession 
of contaminated globes, as well as by the accession of all the 
bodies of wicked men, at the day of judgment, and perdition 
of the ungodly, and not only of this, but of all sinning 
worlds. But it is held by some who are eminent for their bibli- 
cal knowledge, that at the day of judgment, the earth is not to be 
removed out of its place, nor yet annihilated, but is only to be 
purified by fire, by being melted down into a universal state of 
fusion ; which, when cooled, is to be fitted up into the New Cre- 
ation, which is promised, and believed will take place after the 
day of judgment ; yet it should be remembered, that a renova- 
tion is not a creation— observe the language : " Behold I make 
all things new? as is stated in Rev. xxi. 5, and is far enough, in 
our opinion, from saying, behold I new vamp, or new model, or 
repair all things. In the same chapter, verse 1st, the complete 
removal of this globe from its present situation, is certainly 
spoken of, as follows : " And I saw a new heaven, (atmosphere,) 
and anew earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were 
passed away, and there was no more sea." Isaiah speaks of this 
same thing, chap. lxv. 17, " For behold, I create new heavens 

14 



222 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor 
come into mind." But some imagine that this nexo heaven and 
new earth, which are to supplant the first heaven and earth, is to 
be nothing more than the substitution of the Christian dispensa- 
sation for that of the Jewish. This, however, to us seems im- 
possible ; because the peculiar phraseology of the prophet Isaiah, 
precludes such a sense. And what is this peculiar phraseology ? 
see a part of the quotation again, which is here included in 
brackets, ["and the former heavens and earth shall not be 
remembered, nor come into mind."] 

Now Christianity has been established in the world more than 
eighteen hundred years, yet the Jewish law and religion are not 
forgotten, nor gone out of mind, but are constantly brought to 
view in all the world, where the religion of the Bible is taught ; 
and will continue so to be as long as time endures, and in fact 
is a part of Christianity, as it gives rise and authority to the New 
Testament itself. The Revelator is no less peculiar in his phra- 
seology, or language, on this thing than Isaiah is ; for observe 
the last line, in brackets, of the 1st verse of chapter xxi. : " For 
theirs* heaven and theirs* earth were passed away, [and there 
was no more sea? or ocean.] A religious or civil dispensation 
has no ocean or sea attached to it, nor can such things be used 
as figures in reference to them ; on which account we here learn 
with certainty, that the earth, and the matter of which it con- 
sists, is to be taken away ; not annihilated, but removed out of 
its orbit, and cast into hell. But if there remains yet a doubt 
respecting such a conclusion, we bring St. Peter, in his 2d Epis- 
tle, ii. 5, to remove it altogether : who says that the same world 
that was overflowed by water, at the time of Noah's deluge, " is 
now kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judg- 
ment and perdition of ungodly men." 

Now we ask Universalists, who make such a mock of the 
orthodox opinions, about a day of judgment, and the burning of 
the globe at that time ; if all the judgment day St. Peter meant in 
that Scripture was the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, 
how is it that he has spoken of them as having been drowned in 
a flood ? and besides, how is it that a dispenaation can be wet, or 
overflowed by water ? At the time of Noah, the Jews did not 
exist, and therefore the wcrld which was destroyed by its waters, 
was not that of the Jewish dispensation, but is the very world on 
which we live, the earth, which is now kept in store unto fire, 
&c. ; and has nothing to do, nor ever had any thing to do, with 
the Jewish nation or religion. In agreement with this very idea 
about the end of the world, as above stated, by St. Peter, see the 
102d Psalm, 25, 26, " Of old thou laid the" foundation of the 
earth, and the heavens (atmosphere) are the works of thy hands. 
They shall perish ; but thou (God) shalt endure ; yea, all of 
them shall wax old, like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 223 

change them, and they shall be changed." This was spoken of 
the literal world or earth, because he says the Lord of old laid 
the foundation of the earth, this mundane system, but it shall 
perish. This is still more plainly stated by St. Peter : " But the 
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which 
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that 
are therein, shall be burned up," and according to the Revelator, 
be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone ; when there shall 
succeed a new heaven and a new earth, which will occupy the 
same region of space which now occupies the space of the solar 
system, wherein shall dwell righteousness, or holy beings, with- 
out end, and is to be a new creation, but not a mere renovation. 

Having thus far treated on a number of curious matters, as 
that of the animal called the Nachash, of the creation of the 
angels, their fall, the origin of sin, the peculiar mode of their trial, 
location of heaven and hell, place of confinement of the souls of 
the wicked dead, removal of this globe to give place to another, 
for other purposes, with many other subjects arising out of them ; 
we now hasten to an aocount of the operations of Satan with the 
heads of our race, in producing their fall ; and to give further 
evidence that Satan with his angels are real, and not imaginary 
beings, as Universalists seem to believe. 

END OP THE FIRST PART. 



HISTORY OF SATAN, 



AND 



PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE 



OP 



DEVILS AND EVIL SPIRITS: 

WITH MANY OTHER CURIOUS MATTERS, CONNECTED 



NAMELY, THAT THERE IS NO HELL, NO 
DEVIL, NOR DAY OF JUDGMENT. 



PART SECOND. 



By JOSIAH PRIEST, 

Autfior ef the Christian Millenium, American Antiquities, fye. $c. 



ALBANY: 

PRINTED BY J . M U N S E L L 



7 

.Tk». 58 State Street. 



1837. 



HISTORY OF SATAN, &C. 

PART SECOND. 



An account of the operations of Satan with the heads of our 
race j Adam and Eve, in producing their fall ; with further 
evidence than is produced in the first volume, of the exis- 
tence of Devils and Evil Spirits, who have a literal and 
personal existence, according to the Scriptures as we under- 
stand them, and as understood by Oorthodox Christians 
throughout the World. 

That there is such a being as is called Satan, Devil, Serpent, 
Old Serpent, Evil One, Destroyer, Accuser, Apolyon, Abad- 
don and Evil Spirit, we proceed, in this second part of the 
work, further to prove, from the holy Scriptures, but more par- 
ticular from the New Testament ; and shall show, that he, as 
well as his associate evil spirits, are real beings, and not imag- 
inary ones ; or at most as some believe, are nothing more than 
diseases of the body and mind, the images of the heathen, and 
evil principles or passions of the human soul. In the book of 
Genesis, the oldest writing now in existence, 3d chapter 1st 
verse, is found the first intimation of the existence and character 
of Satan, who is there brought to view under the name of the 
Nachash; which word is erroneously translated, both in the 
Greek and the English, as we have shown on the first pages of 
the first part of this work. The reason this name, Nachash. 
was given by Moses to this evil spirit, the head of all evil beings, 
was because he entered into the mental and physical powers of 
a certain animal known to Moses by that name, or (as it is in the 
Arabic, which at that time was the same with the Hebrew.) 
K-ha-noos, and meant the Orang-outang — for the purpose of 
attempting to deceive our first mother, with respect to that which 
God had forbidden her. That this spirit, so entering into the 
organs of that animal, and who, by that means misled the mind 
of Eve, was Satan, the chief of the fallen angels, we think we 
prove by the following argument and Scripture. And to com- 
mence, see Rev. xii. 9, " And the great dragon was cast out, that 
old serpent (or K-ha-noos) called the devil and Satan, which 
deceiveth the whole world ; he was cast out into the earth, and 
his angels were cast out with him." Here in this Scripture by 



228 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



St. John, who well understood the meaning of the term K-ha- 
noos, in the Hebrew, or ancient Arabic, as it related to a being 
of an intellectual and spiritual nature, has mentioned two other 
names or appellations by which he is known, as that of Satan 
and devil, which belonged to this being ; and as determining 
the point that there was a spirit alluded to by St. John, con- 
nected in this affair of the serpent, entirely independent of the 
animal called by Moses the Nachash or K-ha-noos ; we notice 
the very peculiar appendage of the words old serpent, the devil ; 
and also, that of his having angels, or ministers, and of his once 
having inhabited a part of heaven. Now by no rule of lan- 
guage, figure or analogy, can this account be understood to be 
descriptive, of either an animal or of a principle. But if it is to 
be understood as Universalists teach, namely, that the words old 
serpent, Satan and devil, signify no more than the diseases of 
the body and mind of man, we should like to know what disease 
it is, of either body or mind which has angels at its command ; 
or which of the passions have any of these extraordinary accom- 
paniments. Or if the idea be carried still farther, and the idols 
and images of the heathen are said to be this devil or Satan, and 
old serpent ; still a difficulty is presented, inasmuch as St. John 
speaks of but one such being to whom belongs these appella- 
tions ; while the idols and images of the heathen are many, 
and therefore are not meant by this description of the Revelator, 
as the singular cannot represent pluralities, except by delega- 
tion. The ancient Jews, in their commentaries on the laws of 
Moses, speak much of this being, and of his personal existence, 
and of his having been cast out, with his troops, from the place 
of holiness, or heaven ; which opinions go far at any rate, to 
prove that the Jewish Rabbins, except the Sadducees, thought 
on this subject far different from the Universalist Rabbins of the 
present day^ and is no small evidence of the folly of the latter. 

It is of no avail to the Universalists, that the Sadducees, a 
branch of the Jewish Church, denied the existence of both an- 
gels and spirits ; for in Acts, xxiii. 8, it is said that the Pharisees 
confessed the doctrine of the existence of superhuman angels and 
spirits, to which doctrine St. Paul pointedly subscribes in all 
his writings, and also in this book, the Acts. It is said of him 
by St. Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, chap. xxvi. 5, that 
he was a Pharisee of the straightest sect, and therefore belived in 
the existence of angels and spirits, both good and bad. The Sad- 
ucees were more opposed to Christ than any other religious sect 
of the Jews, and gave the Christian church more trouble after 
the death of the Saviour, than any other. They were the Uni- 
versalists of the day, and believed that there is neither rewards 
nor punishments after death ; but that men are rewarded and 
punished in this life, for the good or evil deeds they do. But 
the Pharisees believed in the existence of a hell in eternity. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 229 

whither the wicked went immediately after death ; and this idea 
is no where contradicted in St. Paul's writings ; but by fair infer- 
ence it is abundantly established ; that St. Paul believed this trait 
of the Pharisaic doctrine, is shown when he declared before 
Agrippa that he was educated a Pharisee, which peculiar trait he 
has no where renounced, but confirmed in his epistles. 

A great teacher in matters of religion and the disputes of his 
day, on that subject, as carried on between Saducee and Phari- 
see, and both of these against the heathen, as St. Paul was, it is 
extremely probable would have something to say against the 
belief of the existence of Satan and evil spirits, as beings, if he 
did not believe it. Paul was not a man that was afraid to make 
inroads upon old established opinions, if such opinions were not 
agreeable to the truth, as is seen in all his doings, wherever he 
went preaching the gospel. Now if the belief in the personal 
existence of devils and of Satan, was but a branch of the ancient 
Persian religion, derived from the mere imaginations of their 
idolatrous priests, how is it that St. Paul has not corrected and 
exploded it ? The circumstance, therefore, of his not having 
done this, is a powerful proof that he admitted the doctrine. And 
that he did admit the doctrine, is shown from his casting out the 
spirit of divination, or familiar spirit, which was in the soul of 
a certain damsel at Phillippi — see Acts, xvi. 18 — by which 
means she immediately lost her extraordinary power to reveal 
secrets, and by which her owners lost their income. Nothing is 
clearer, therefore, than that St. Paul did believe with all his 
heart, just what Universalists as heartily deny, with respect to 
the real personal existence of evil spirits. 

By the terms old serpent, the devil, &c, St. John did not mean 
the heathen Roman empire, as supposed by some ; as the Ro- 
mans did not adopt the image of the great red dragon, the boa 
constrictor of the tropical deserts, till the second century of the 
Christian era, as the image of their power, which they then began 
to paint on the standards of their armies ; on which account, the 
term old serpent could not be applicable in the time of St. John, 
even allowing he was prophesying of the persecutions of heathen 
Rome against the Christians. It cannot fail to be perceived that 
it would have been exceedingly out of order for St. John to speak 
of that which did not exist at his time, as being old ; though the 
heathen Romans did even then persecute Christianity, nor could 
she be accused of having deceived the whole world, although she 
was entirely addicted to idolatry, from her very rise as a nation. 
If this is objected to — and it is insisted that her idolatries have 
deceived the whole world — we enquire how this is made out, 
seeing all the world, from Adam till Noah, and from Noah till 
Constantines time, was given to idolatry, with the bare exception 
of one family before the flood, and one lineage of the Jews after ? 
It is clear, therefore, that St. John meant by the term old serpent, 



230 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

Satan, and devil, that evil spirit which seduced, in the disguise 
of an animal, our first mother, the woman of Paradise, and with 
her that of the whole world. 

But what is the reason, the Revelator has spoken of this spirit 
under the name of dragon, — great red dragon, fyc, if it meant 
primarily, and solely, the Roman heathen empire, as opposed to 
Christianity 7 We answer : for the very same reason that Moses 
has spoken of him as being a Nachash,ov an Orang-outang — as 
we believe it was. In the case of Eve, Moses has spoken of him 
as being a Nachash, or K-ha-noos, because Satan used that animal 
as an instrument of deception, and therefore received this name : 
so in the case of the heathen Romans ; St. John calls him drag- 
on, because it was by the means of that great Empire, (the Ro- 
mans whose Royal ensign, painted on their military flags, and 
standards of their armies, was the great red dragon of the desert, 
the boa-constrictor,) that Satan instigated, and finally carried on 
a persecution of nearly three hundred years against Christianity. 
If the reader will pay attention to the arrangement of the words 
of this verse — Rev. chap. xii. 9 — he will find that the term old, 
is not applied to the word dragon, but only to the word serpent; 
that old serpent, the devil. The word dragon, was then used 
only by anticipation ; as the circumstance which gave to Satan 
this peculiar and additional name, did not exist at the time of St. 
John ; it is true, however, that the Revelator did foretell the perse- 
cutions of the great red dragon — the heathen Roman empire 
against Christianity : but that this dragon should be overcome by 
the bloo3 of the Lamb, and himself, with his nobles, his armies, and 
all his power should be cast down, and be compelled to give place 
to the religion of Christ. This was accomplished: For the 
whole Roman empire was forced by the decree of Constantine, 
— one of their Emperors, about three hundred years after the 
commencement of the Christian religion — to abandon the wor- 
ship of idols, and to give up their temples to the purer worship 
of the true God. But in all this persecution of the Christian re- 
ligion, that old serpent, the devil, who deceiveth the whole world, 
(which cannot be said of heathen Rome) was foreseen by the 
spirit of inspiration, in the mind of St. John, to be the sole mover 
of those persecutions, to prevent the growth of the religion of 
Christ in the earth, and if possible, to exterminate it. But as 
opposed to his influence, therew as the providence of God, in the 
appointment of mighty angels ; one of whom, is named Michael, 
who, with his fellows, operated against the machinations of the 
devil and his angels, so that he could not prevail, nor save the 
ancient empire of his rule among the heathen Romans, from be- 
ing supplanted by Christianity. On this very account, was it 
not highly consistent for the spirit of prophecy to speak of the 
operations of the old serpent, the devil, by the means of the great 
red heathen dragon, the Romans, and to state his defeat, with 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 231 

that of his angels, other fallen spirits like himself, and of their be- 
ing cast down to the earth from their place of honor in the heathen 
teiftples, as they xoere at the time of their first sinning and being 
e&st out of heaven ? Unless we take this view of the subject, we 
are compelled to suppose that St. John meant by the terms old 
serpent, the devil, and Satan, the Roman empire ; which he 
could not, except it is viewed as then under the direction and 
influence of this evil spirit and his angels, for the purpose of des- 
troying Christianity. And that the heathen Roman empire was 
under such influence, we prove from this most singular circum- 
stance, their opposition to Christianity. Why, we enquire, 
should the Romans, as a nation, oppose the Christian religion 
more than they did other religions of mankind ?' If the Christian 
religion, in their estimation, was but a new religion of the world, 
and perhaps not as good, or possibly better, or merely equal, 
With hundreds of others among mankind, why persecute it, while 
they did not persecute others, but were willing that other nations 
and other people should enjoy their way, their gods, and theit 
religion? But so was not the fact, as they did persecute it, 
with all the vengeance that law and bigotry, urged on by the 
malice of an idolatrous, interested priesthood, could enable them 
to effect ; which effect was most horrible, as the souls of millions 
now in eternity, can and will witness ; who were dismissed from 
the earth through blood and torture. 

Now why was all this ? why did the Roman heathen so per- 
secute this religion, and mark it as a victim of vengeance l this 
is our answer, — because instigated by the devil ; as Christianity 
Was of God, and therefore hateful in the sight and estimation of 
this most foul of all intellectual beings. It was this spirit and 
his associate angels, who stirred up continually, the powers of 
heathen Rome, to accuse both night and day, the followers of 
Christ, to the judges and courts of heathen ecclesiastical law. 
But when the Apostle, St. John, saw that the providence of God 
would finally overcome him, he exclaimed, in anticipation — Rev. 
xii. 10 — " Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom 
of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the accuser of our 
brethren is cast down, which accused them before God night 
and day." This casting down of Satan, was effected when the 
religion of Christ had won its way through opposition as great 
and as terrible as was possible to be carried on by devils and 
men, and became suddenly the religion of the country, with all 
the sanctions of the law of the empire. But without the instiga- 
tion of this spirit, the devil, or Satan, we aver that the Romans 
would never have done it toward this religion, more than toward 
others, and to us is a powerful argument of the real existence of 
Satan ; and that such was the meaning of St. John when he 
speaks of him as being that old serpent, the devil, and Satan, 
who deceiveth the whole world. It is this same evil being, who 



232 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



by his powers and invisible associates, operates in the hearts of 
all infidels, and excites the peculiar enmity of that class of men, 
against this religion. Were it not so, they never would oppose 
it, more than they oppose the religion of the heathen. How is it 
that those men cannot look on the Christian religion with the 
same indifference as they do on the heathen religion ? since they 
consider them all alike spurious or fictitious, and the work of 
pristcraft only. They consider them all as impositions alike ; 
yet they single out the Christian religion from all the rest, and 
make war upon it, by sword and pen, to exterminate it. Now 
this is altogether unaccountable, except it is explained on the 
principle of Satanic influence ; as the priesthood of Christianity 
cannot be accused of any thing more than deception, which in 
them, were it even true, is no worse than the priests of pagan- 
ism ; and yet these men are found even to applaud paganism, 
and to prefer it. This circumstance proves, in our mind, the 
fact of the existence of Satan, who as the Scripture saith, worketh 
in the hearts of the children of disobedience. 

But as promised at the outset of this second part of the work, 
we proceed further to prove the being of the devil, chiefly from 
the New Testament. But before we enter upon this book of 
Scripture further than already done, we will examine again, but 
briefly, the famous 3d chapter of Genesis on this subject. In 
that chapter, it is stated that the serpent held a strange, yet inter- 
esting conversation with the first woman, in which he led her to 
believe that if she tasted the fruit of that forbidden tree, no evil 
could happen to her, but rather a positive good would certainly 
be the result, as that her eyes should be opened, &c. This must 
have been the devil, that fallen angel, who promised her this 
increase of knowledge, as there was no other creature who could 
have done it. 

Is it to be believed that Eve imagined in and of herself, that the 
bare circumstance of eating a few berries of a certain tree, could 
give her the desired knowledge of which she was in pursuit ? 
yet so she seems to have supposed ; for it is said of her, that 
when she saw, or believed, not only that the fruit was good to 
eat, but to make one wise, she did eat. Herein lay the deception ; 
for how could she have imagined, except under the influence of 
a delusion, that the bare cirumstance of eating could make her 
wise 1 But Universalists are equally deceived with Eve in this 
matter, when they imagine that the mere desire to taste that 
fruit — which desire they say was the identical serpent — for 
how can they suppose that desire to have been capable of fore- 
telling what the effect would be to her in a moral point of light, 
as it certainly did, if there was no foreign evil being engaged in 
the affair. Appetites cannot reason — cannot foretell — cannot 
prophesy — cannot teach theology — cannot instruct in things of 
moral philosophy — as possessed by Eve or any other creature of 
the whole earth ; yet we are to believe this, if Universalists are 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 233 

correct in the interpretation of the temptation of our mother 
Eve ; for they say it was her appetites which told her all these 
things. But there is another difficulty which presents itself on 
the idea of Eve's appetites having been this serpent — which is, 
that she is shown to have exceeded her own powers by her own 
abilities, which is an absurdity. This is shown in her argu- 
ment about tasting the fruit of the forbidden tree, when she tells 
herself, as Universalists will have it, that if she should but taste, 
it would giver he a knowledge of moral evil ; a thing, of which 
she could not, in her then conditon, had any conception of; for 
if she had, the purity of her mind must have rejected it rather 
than desired it. If the reader will but notice, he will perceive 
when the serpent told her that by its taste she should know both 
good and evil, that her conclusion was, as it was good to make 
one wise, was a sufficient reason why she should eat of it ; but 
not for the sake of obtaining a knowledge of moral evil, but 
moral good, and to become as the gods, the angels whom she 
knew were good. The knowledge of moral evil by experience, 
is not a good ; and when the serpent — that is, her own passion, 
appetite and mind, as Universalists will have it — prophesied that 
to do otherwise than she was commanded to do by her Creator, 
would obtain this great wisdom ; and in so doing lied to her ; or 
in other words, she lied against herself ; by which she is shown in 
a horrible light, and would seem rather to have been created by 
the devil than by a good, wise, and almighty being ; as the 
whole tendency and essence of her nature and character was 
evil, and that continually and radically so. 

But the procedure of the Divine Being on that occasion — the 
account of which is given by Moses — entirely establishes the 
fact, that he entered into judgment with four distinct beings. 
The four beings with whom he entered into judgment, were as 
follows : First with Adam, second with Eve, third with the ser- 
pent, or Nachash, and fourth with Satan, who had used the Na- 
chash as an instrument on that occasion. In arraigning these 
four beings, the Lord God pursued the following order : First, he 
commenced with the man, by calling him — as it is likely he had 
been wont to do at other times, when he chose to be conversant 
with him. But from the singular behaviour of Adam, in his be- 
ing hidden, as he note foolishly imagined from the presence of God, 
proves that he was self-convicted, which instantly introduced the 
inquisition which took place: — "hast thou eaten of the tree 
wherof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not." But Adam's 
reply — thanks be to the atonement ! — was not to deny it, but to 
confess ; which confession, we can scarcely doubt, was a glim- 
mering in the heart of Adam, of that gracious and restored con- 
dition, called initial salvation, and has reached the condition of 
every human soul. Adam confessed, but said: "the woman 
whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I 



234 HISTORY OF THE, FALLEN 

did eat." Second : Then " the Lord said unto the woman, wfet 
hast thou done ? And the woman said : the Nachash beguiled 
me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the Nachash, 
or K-ha-noos ; because thou hast done this, thou art cursed 
above all cattle, and above every beast of the field : upon thy belly 
shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." 
Thus far, we perceive that three of the culprits have been dis- 
tinctly noticed : but now, says the Universalist, comes the "tug 
of war," to prove the fourth being, who was engaged in this bu- 
siness ; in which, if we succeed, we shall prove the being of #a- 
tan, a supernatural being, called also, the devil. To do this, we 
again recount the whole affair, and note the judgments r as they 
were awarded to the several offenders. First, the man; because 
he hearkened to the voice of his wife, was doomed to get his 
bread, in the sweat of his face, laboring in pain and sorrow : all 
the days of his life ; a physical calamity to which he was not 
before exposed, — though he, as well as his posterity, were com- 
manded before the fall, to multiply, replenish, and subdue ifche 
earth: which idea — that of subduing- the earth, carries .with 
it, the doctrine that industry was designed for the human race, 
even though they had not sinned ; but not in pain and sorrow yas 
now, but by gentle labor, as should have harmonized perfectly 
with their sinless and painless condition. 

Second : the Lord God turned to the woman, and said : be- 
cause she had hearkened to the voice of the serpent, or K-ha- 
noos, that her sorrows in conception, and child bearing, should 
be greatly multiplied above that which it would have been, if she 
had not sinned ; and besides she was made subject to the rule of 
her husband, now that they were both fallen ; which before her 
fall, was not the case, — as her purity, goodness, and discretion, 
would have always prevented her from faults and errors : on 
which account, rule and coercion, in relation to the woman 
would never have been needed, or resorted to by the man. 

Third : the serpent as a beast, was condemned with regard to 
the manner of his going over the ground, his food, and contemp- 
tibleness among the animals of the earth — being rendered cursed 
above all cattle. 

And fourthly, he judged the devil — that old serpent, who is 
Satan, the fallen angel — which we learn from the nature of the 
judgment, which did not, and could not have applied to the ser- 
pent, or Nachash, as a beast, or a mere dumb animal, who had 
nothing to do as a principal, or as a coadjutor in that affair, 
being a mere passive instrument in the hands of a supe- 
rior. But what laas the nature of that judgment, which could 
not have been applicable to the K-ha-noos, or serpent, as a beast, 
but was altogether suitable to just such a being as Satan, i. c eve- 
rywhere shown to be in the Scriptures. It was this : " I W; : ! put 
enmity between thee and the woman ; and between thy seed ai)d 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 235 

her seed : it (the woman's seed, which was Christ,) shall bruise 
thy head, and (thou Satan,) shall bruise his heel," in his death. 
The following is Benson's comment on this curious subject, res- 
pecting- this enmity between the woman and her seed, and the 
serpent and his seed : the same comment which for another pur- 
pose, we have given on the first pages of this work — and as we 
think, fully proves the existence of Satan, in distinction from that 
of the serpent, or animal, and makes out the fourth being which 
God adjudged at that time. The comment is as follows : " Thou 
shalt bruise his heel." This is understood of Christ — the seed 
of the woman. His heel, means— -first, his human nature, 
whereby he trod upon the earth ; and which the devil, or old 
serpent, (not the mere animal,) by the instrumentality of wicked 
men, bruised and killed on the cross. Second : his people, 
members, or saints, whom Satan in diverse ways, bruises and 
afflicts, while they are on the earth. In this verse, therefore, no- 
tice is given of a perpetual quarrel, commencing m the very 
beginning of time, between the kingdom of Christ, and the king- 
dom of the old serpent, the devil — among men. War is here 
proclaimed between the seed of the woman, and the seed of the 
serpent ; which seed of the serpent, is in the New Testament 
called the " children of the wicked one? 

We are not to suppose the enmity spoken of which was to ex- 
ist between the woman's seed and the serpent's seed, to consist in 
the mere hatred of snakes, as there is no proof in nature, or in 
the Scriptures that snakes hate the human race, any more than 
any other creature does, or that the passion of hatred or enmity 
towards man exists in them at all, or in any other beast. But 
when it is understood of the devil and his seed, (wicked human 
beings) who are opposed to Christ and his cross bearing seed, the 
righteous, then is there a meaning — a force — a dignity, and a 
truth worthy the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. But when made 
to mean nothing more than the common dislike we feel at the 
sight of a snake solely on account of its ability to bite and kill 
by poison ; the allusion amounts to nothing more than a little 
trait in the field of Zoology or history of animals, a wonderful 
subject indeed for the attention of the eternal mind to introduce ; 
when giving notice to the world of the coming of his Son as a 
Redeemer in the fullness of time. 

Thus by showing this part of the judgment, which was pro- 
nounced on the serpent, respecting the seed of the woman, and 
the power that seed (which was Christ) should have to bruis* 
and finally to destroy that serpent the devil ; we show it impos- 
sible that it could have had any reference to any other being 
than to a supernatural and intellectual one, who by the means 
of an animal beguiled the first woman ; and thus we prove that 
God entered into judgment with four beings — Adam, Eve, the 
animal and the devil. 



236 



HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 



But if the subject is to be understood as Universalists say it 
should be, namely, that there was no devil in the case except 
Eve's passions, animal desires and appetites, then that account 
may read as follows — « I will put enmity between thee (the devil, 
Eve's passions) and the woman, (to whom these passions belong) 
and between thy seed and her seed." By which we perceive the 
woman is set at variance with herself, even by her creator, by 
causing a war to be excited between her passions, appetites and 
mind, and herself— as if her body, mind and passions were dis- 
tinct beings, when we know they were united in one. " It (her 
seed, Christ) shall bruise, (the serpent's head, which is also hers) 
thy head, and thou (the woman's seed) shalt bruise his heel ;" by 
which mode of reading we perceive the whole matter is worse 
than nonsense on the ground that the serpent which misled and 
beguiled the woman, was the woman herself. If this is so, then 
indeed the Divine Being entered into judgment on that occasion 
with but two beings, Adam and Eve alone. But four beings 
were judged, and the fourth was judged more severely than all 
the others ; which was that Christ should in the fullness of time 
come into the world to destroy both the works of this fourth be- 
ing and the being himself in hell. The view which Universal- 
ists take of this subject, namely, to deny there was any super- 
natural being engaged in deceiving Eve, deny of necessity that 
this seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, which was to bruise the 
serpent's head, was ever to come into the world at all ; as the 
thing for which it is said he should come to accomplish, namely, 
to bruise and destroy, never existed; except we say that thing 
was the human nature of Eve and of her posterity. And what 
does this amount to? why, that Christ, the seed of the woman, 
was coming into the world to bruise his own works, (the human 
nature of Eve and her children,) on which account she was 
doomed to become her own destroyer as well as that of her off- 
spring. This, were it the true state of the case, were as bad as 
the fiction of Milton, who relates that death which came into be- 
ing in hell and was born there of sin, brought forth every hour a 
race of beings which he calls hell hounds, which howled as they 
came forth, tearing the bowels of their mother death without pity 
or remorse, and without end. 

But when it is believed that a fourth being, known in Chris- 
tian theology as Satan, who beguiled the woman and was to be 
the -object of this seed's vengeance, then there is a consistency, a 
propriety and wisdom manifest which is worthy the eternal God, 
and not otherwise. (/See the Plate.) 

The plate shows the Divine Being in the attitude of judging 
the culprits who had been engaged in the breach of his law giv- 
en to Adam and Eve in Paradise ; also the grape-tree or vine 
which we believe to have been the forbidden fruit. 

In this place we will venture a few remarks on the manner of 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 



239 



Adam and Eve's transgression, and of the forbidden tree ; as some 
have doubted whether it was literally a tree and its fruit which 
was forbidden ; but rather that it was connubial enjoyment. But 
the folly of this notion appears from the manner in which the 
transgression proceeded. Eve it appears, first and alone, ap- 
proached, plucked off and eat of the fruit of that tree, without the 
concurrence or knowledge of Adam at all. 

Is it good sense to suppose God would have forbidden the very 
and only means which himself had ordained in the creation of 
nature, by which the earth was to be replenished by inhabitants, 
making his own work the occasion of sin and death ? Surely not. 
This would be to set God at variance with himself, his provi- 
dence at war with his wisdom and holiness ; one kind of life, 
that of animal existence, at war with another kind of life, that of 
moral rectitude ; both of which were entirely essential to human 
beings and human happiness. There is no better way than to 
receive that account as it reads, as that is the most simple and 
natural ; obscurity or mystical meaning is then out of the ques- 
tion. The account is, that it was a tree, and the fruit of that 
tree which was forbidden, without similitude, allegory, or hiero- 
glyphic ; and so the Jews, in their traditions and commentaries, 
have always understood it. As to the kind of tree, their tradi- 
tions state that it was the grape, which grew to an immense size, 
but winding round other trees, ascended to a great height, over- 
shadowing the earth with its broad leaves and pendant clusters. 
This vine, or tree, was as proper to be the prohibited object or 
test of their obedience to God, as any other thing within the 
range of the creation : and as the grape is that kind of fruit from 
which wine is produced, which by a short process of fermentation 
becomes inebriating ; who is prepared to object that Adam and 
Eve when they had eat their fill of it were not intoxicated ? as 
their pure and unhackneyed stomachs had never before received 
any inebriating qualities. But as some may imagine this too 
wild a conjecture, and not possible, we will state that the camels 
of the Arabs get intoxicated on green dates, which in some 
parts of that country grow abundantly. This is done when 
they eat them in great quantities, and then drink plentifully of 
water, a fermentation takes place in the stomach of the animals, 
by which they are intoxicated, as if they had drank of spirit. If 
therefore, such is the effect on a camel, how much more so on 
human beings, whose stomachs had been unused to other food 
than the soft and delicate fruits of paradise, but not of inebriating 
qualities like the grape. And more than this, as a kind of evi- 
dence that the grape tree was that tree of knowledge, we notice 
the fact that the produce of this very tree, which is wine, has, in 
the administration of God's kingdom among men, been ordained to 
represent the very blood of that seed which was to come into 

15 



340 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

the world, and to bruise by the atonement the serpent's head r 
and by salvation to man made possible. In this circumstance, 
God has taken the very instrument — the fruit of the vine, of 
which Satan persuaded the woman to taste — by which to per- 
petuate a remembrance of the blood of the cross ; and to Satan 
cannot but be the everlasting token of his guilt and defeat. Any 
other mode of explaining about the tree of knowledge, than to 
hold it as having been literal, and exactly as it reads, is met at 
all points with difficulties and absurdities insurmountable and 
innumerable. 

But as to the particular mode of Satan's operations on the 
mind of Eve, when he misled and deceived her, we shall now 
venture some ideas, and if possible, ascertain how he could ap- 
proach a mind which was so pure and innocent as was hers, and 
induce it to sin against that one and only law of God that was 
known to her ; or in other words — so as to accommodate the 
Universalist's opinion — enquire how she could have so seduced 
and deceived herself; there being, as they say in that case, no 
other devil but herself. But to pursue our own way on this sub- 
ject — Satan, the serpent, knew well, that such was the purity of 
Eve's mind, that she never would turn aside of her own free 
will, and knowingly break the command respecting the tree of 
knowledge. On which account he found it necessary to lead 
her, if possible, in pursuit of a seeming good. A desire of 
knowledge, and especially a knowledge of God, of his will and 
his works, is a principle essential to the nature of angels, and all 
unsinning and unfallen intelligences, Adam and Eve not ex- 
cepted in their first condition. That this desire was implanted 
in the mind of Eve, was perceived by Satan, who had studied 
the make of her mind before he attacked her with his wiles. 
That this desire of increasing moral knowledge was embraced 
in the powers of her mind, we learn from Moses, who says that 
when she saw the tree was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree lo be 
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit and did eat. 
Here the fact is plainly stated, that the innocent and commenda- 
ble, nay, indispensable desire, to increase in knowledge, was an 
ingredient in the pure and primeval nature of unfallen Eve. 
Upon this disposition Satan was resolved to operate ; and if by 
any means he could succeed to lead her, ignorantly, beyond the 
prescribed limits of the law, he should then, by so doing, place 
her beneath the blazing arrows of eternal justice ; which as a 
principle knows no mercy ; and by whose power, Satan with 
his angels, had been driven out from their first habitation in 
heaven. Wherefore, in the glowing colors of Satanic eloquence, 
he told her to what a height she would in a moment be exalted, 
in additional excellence and knowledge, and would become as 
the g®ds, or as the angels of God, were she but to taste the pur- 
ple clusters of that extraordinary tree. There is no doubt but 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 241 

Satan told her that the Divine Being cared nothing for the mere 
tree, nor its fruit, more than for any other tree and its fruit, which 
was growing in Paradise ; but that the divine prohibition was 
kindly and wisely meant, to sharpen and excite the minds of 
herself and Adam, to a stronger desire in the commendable and 
praiseworthy pursuit of knowledge, and of becoming wise ; and 
that their Creator would be delighted at such an instance of per- 
severing research in his creatures. It is also highly probable 
that Satan extolled the power of that fruit, as Milton conjectured, 
on account of its great benefit to himself; who from a mere 
brute, destitute of the reasoning faculty, had, from a bare taste, 
as he accidentally had strayed beneath its branches, been sud- 
denly exalted in his mind to that of an intellectual creature ; and 
superadded to this, had received the power of speech, or of vocal 
language like herself; whereas, before he was but a dumb ani- 
mal, capable only of a mere yell or cry. If then so great a 
change has passed upon me, said the animal, from a mere taste 
of its fruit, how much more, therefore, will its virtue exalt one 
who is by nature immensely higher than I am ; and will cause 
you in a moment to become as the gods, knowing good and evil. 
Believing this tale, Eve doubted not but her Creator must ap- 
prove of the act, as by it his creature would become wiser ; and 
therefore, she ventured beneath its purpie clusters, filled with the 
wine of Paradise ; the grapes of which were larger and more rich 
in flavor than the grapes of Canaan, carried from thence on the 
shoulders of the spies, to the camp of Moses, in the desert ; which 
was the fruit of the land of ancient promise. She now, without 
doubt or fear, put forth her adventrous hand, and took from the 
branches, among the thick boughs of that luxuriant tree, a grape 
as large as an apple, and with her lips pressed out the luscious 
juice, which to her taste surpassed all the fruits of the garden ; 
so that another, and another still, was gathered to her taste, with 
increasing r and inordinate appetite, as she was now falling, till 
she became satiated and inflamed from its inebriating power. 

Thus her crime was finished, the law was broken, its penalty 
incurred, and all from an improper and untimely pursuit of an 
increase of knowledge ; not doubting but she was doing that 
which her Maker would approve ; and not from any depravity of 
nature, or tendency thereto ; as a desire of knowledge is certain- 
ly a virtue in angels and men, and accordingly must have been 
in Eve, before her fall. We now appeal to the candid, if this 
view of the sin of Eve, does not effectually clear the Almighty 
from having created this first woman with such dispositions of 
mind as should inevitably cause her to sin, independently of a 
tempter, who, according to the account, beguiled and misled her 
mind. The circumstance of her being deceived, argues no cor- 
ruption or depravity of her nature — to which we think there can 
be no dissent — as the most innocent and pure of the human race 



242 history or THE fallen 

are liable to be misled and deceived. It may be said, however, 
that if God had not implanted within her mind a love of 
knowledge, that she would not have been misled by a tempter 
beyond the limits of the command. But to this it is replied, that 
if he had not made her at all, neither would she have been mis- 
led : and therefore it might as well be said that God was the 
cause of her sinning, inasmuch as he created her — as that he 
implanted within her spirit a love of knowledge, and this love of 
knowledge was the real cause of her ruin. Her love of knowl- 
edge was not the cause, in any sense it can possibly be viewed ; 
but the deceiver was the cause, and none other. 

But was not the case of Adam different from that of his wife ? 
of whom it is said by St. Paul — 1st Timothy, ii. 14 — that Adam 
was not deceived, but the woman only. If then he was not de- 
ceived, or in any way misled or deluded, and by stratagem drawn 
on to his ruin as Eve was, how is it to be made out that his offence 
and sin, did not proceed from a previously depraved and corrupt 
nature ? it is to be made out as follows, as we imagine. There 
can be no doubt but Adam loved his wife exceedingly, and with 
a strength and fervor excelling the highest degrees of the pas- 
sion, as it now exists in the human breast ; for then it was as 
tender as intellectual ; a love which knew no second among the 
works of God. This we learn from his own lips, (and who has 
not loved,) when he said on first beholding her, as he received 
her, new and glorious, from the hand of the Creator : " This 
now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." On which 
account it was added, " Therefore shall a man leave his father 
and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife ;" and shows how 
closely his soul was mingled with hers, in the bond of love, as 
united by the author of every good and perfect gift. But when he 
saw that his Eve — while he had been by some means separated 
from her — had visited the forbidden tree ; knew that she had 
sinned, as there hung from her arm a rich branch of its fruit ; 
her lips and her fingers being deeply stained with the red juices 
of that fruit, which she had partaken of. That she was fallen, 
he also knew, from her altered manners ; as a boldness of ad- 
dress, hitherto unknown, marked her demeanor ; while the fluen- 
cy of her speech, poured forth in raptures, in praise of her dis- 
covery, as she ran in her vehemence to the arms of Adam, 
persuading him to partake with her, that he too might ascend 
and be equal to the gods. But to Adam's as yet, unobscured 
perception, every moment was big with horror; but not for 
himself, as he expected soon to see visited upon her the dread- 
ful penalty of death, when he should be bereft of all he loved 
beneath the heavens. He gazed intensely, as an angel gazes on 
the newly fallen ; her image was so fair, and to him so dear ; 
while she still plead, and pressed to his lips the bolt of death, in 
the form of a deep rich grape, he felt that he could not be parted 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 243 

from her. Then a flash of God's law darted athwart his sight, 
while still the music of her voice, in strains of more than mortal 
eloquence, filled his ear, in praise of the virtues of that tree ; 
which was, as she imagined, swiftly working in her the pro- 
mised change. But Adam saw her doom, from which his arm 
could not deliver her ; and to be thus torn asunder, never 
more to see her image, nor to hear her voice, was more than his 
noble heart could bear ; and though death must be his doom, 
yet his love for her was stronger than the fear of death, which 
many waters could not drown ; resolved therefore, to accompany 
her even through the shades of death, as from her he took the fatal 
grape, and eat his fill. And now they were in equal condem- 
nation ; a condition into which he had voluntarily entered ; not 
from depravity, or discontent with his situation, but from an 
exalted and almost superhuman love and sympathy ; a holy and 
heavenly passion, which even an angel of heaven cannot lack, 
and not be deficient in goodness and excellence. 

Thus were the circumstances of their fall, as we believe ; the 
woman from being misled respecting the way of becoming wiser, 
and the man from his exceeding, yet innocent love of his wife ; 
both heavenly affections, implanted in their natures by the Crea- 
tor, who pronounced them very good when he gave them first 
their being. There is no doubt but Eve was tried apart from 
her husband, while from some unknown cause he was absent 
from her ; for if he had been present when Eve was decei- 
ved, he would have resisted the arguments of the devil, 
who, on that occasion, was in the disguise of an animal: yet if 
it had so been, could have been no trial of Eve, as it was neces- 
sary that she should be tried as well as Adam. As to Satan, the 
moment he had succeeded with the woman, he left the body of 
the K-ha-noos, which returned to its former habits, and knew 
not that it had been made an instrument of the ruin of the whole 
human race, and even of procuring a curse on both itself and the 
earth. 

But here, it would seem, a question may arise, whether, if they 
had not been thus tried, they would have sinned and fallen from 
their innocence and first condition, in which they were made ? 
If we say no, they would not, how then is the Divine Being to 
be cleared of being the cause of their fall, inasmuch as he willed 
their trial after some sort or other ? If man had not been sub- 
jected to a trial, or probation, under such circumstances as 
should preclude from his knowledge at the time (but not after- 
wards) the reason of stfch trial, the virtue and exercise of the 
most glorious trait of intellectual being — that of free agency and 
free will — could never have been manifest to men nor angels ; 
out of which an endless succession of happiness was to arise ; 
which could never have been developed in any other way. The 
abuse of free agency is sin ; and free agency possessed by any 



g44 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

being, and that free agency not tested or tried, would be the 
same as no free agency at all ; and no free agency at all would 
be the exact condition of animals ; whose free will is but little 
more than instinct, not guided by reason, on which account 
animals cannot sin. Man's being subjected to a trial, was not, 
therefore, the cause of sin ; the abuse or pervertion of a free- 
dom of action was the sin, and the cause of sin ; both of 
which sprung into being at the same instant, neither having 
the priority, as the abuse was sin, and sin was the abuse of 
that high faculty, both in men and angels. But then, is not 
free agency the cause of sin ? we answer no ; as without it 
man could not have been man, nor could angels have been 
angels, in the virtuous and intellectual sense of the word. 
We might as well say that our being was the cause of sin, as 
to say our free agency was the cause ; but when we say free 
will, wills to abuse itself, we make out that the will so de- 
creeing to do, is sin itself ; such is the case now that we are 
fallen : but such was not the case of either Adam or Eve ; as 
in them there was no depravity, the gratification of which, 
moved them to sin, as we have already shown. In the case 
of Eve, deception was the cause of her sin ; which did not 
amount, however, higher than to a breach of the letter of that 
law, as her will was not wickedly engaged ; but instantly on 
the breach of the letter depravity took possesion of her whole 
moral nature. The sane of Adam; he did not, and could not 
have sinned from depravity prepense, as that was not in his 
nature ; but the moment he touched the fruit of that forbidden 
tree, even though moved thereto by his sympathy for Eve's 
condition, and nothing else, that moment depravity entered 
and possessed his whole nature, as a natural consequence. 
But the human race now sin, as did Adam himself, as well as 
Eve, after the commission of their first sin, from inherent 
depravity, imbibed and engendered by and from the moment 
of that first breach of the letter of God's holy law about the 
tree of knowledge. 

The devil then was the exciting cause of Eve's sin, and 
Eve was the exciting cause of Adam's sin, while Satan and 
his angels were the cause of their own sin, and excited it 
themselves, as shown in the first parts of this work. Well 
then, if God had not created angels nor anything else, there 
could have been no sin nor sinners ; this is granted ; yet God 
is not the cause of sin, though he made them both ; as the 
conservative principle of this thing was not in God, but in the 
wills of the angels, but not in Adam nor Eve before they fell, 
as they could not will to sin, understandingly, as did the 
angels, who occupied a higher condition of responsibility. 
But though the angels who sinned, willed their own sin when 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 245 

they fell, yet this is no evidence that they were previously 
depraved ; for if we say they were, then they were made 
thus, and thus sin would be traced to God as its author, which 
would be blasphemy, as it would be speaking injuriously of 
the Divine Being ; wherefore sin has not arisen out of God, 
nor yet out of human nor angelic free agency, but out of a 
perversion of that qualification, as in the case of the sinning 
angels; but in the case of Adam and Eve, it arose out of a 
desire of knowledge in the one, and out of a superhuman gen- 
erosity or sympathy in the other. 

But says one, we have always supposed that sorrow and 
trouble of any and all descriptions is the result of guilt and 
sin ; how then could Adam feel so acutely on her account, when 
he at that time was as pure as when first created ? This opin- 
ion, however, is an error, as we can show that Jesus Christ 
did feel, and acutely feel, by way of love and sympathy, for 
the wicked Jews, and for the whole world, and yet he was a 
sinless being. It is said that among the angels in heaven 
there is joy over one sinner that repenteth ; which joy, on 
such an occasion, proves by inference, that when a sinner 
does not repent and is lost, that a contrary feeling must be 
experienced ; yet they are unsinning beings. Generosity of 
soul is not to be excluded from the bosom of sinless beings 
because they are sinless ; but rather is there to be found in 
its highest perfection, so that even God may say that he has 
no pleasure in him that dieth. Human beings the most re- 
fined, the most pious, and the most virtuous, are not on that 
account to be excluded from mourning on the account of oth- 
ers, and of feeling the holy passion of love and sympathy for 
those who suffer, either by depravity in any and all degrees, 
or by temporal calamities. So that though Adam may have 
sorrowed for his Eve, when he saw her fallen, yet it supposes 
no impurity of soul on his part, more than in the cases above 
recounted. But says one again, if this be so, how can the 
joys of heaven be complete and without alloy, when they may 
know that myriads of intellectual beings are in hell on account 
of sin ? This is to be answered in one of two ways ; the in- 
habitants of heaven, though they may possibly feel for the 
sorrows of the damned, yet such is their knowledge of the 
justice of their condition, that sympathy is harmonised with 
the righteousness of their doom ; or, in the ineffableness of 
heavenly happiness, their condition is forever obliterated from 
their thoughts. In this thing the benevolent nature of God 
must harmonise with justice and truth, or there is an end to 
his government ; as all governments, human or divine, sup- 
poses the punishment of the bad and the reward of the good. 



246 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

Happiness, therefore, arises out of, and stands upon the founda- 
tion of justice and truth, even mercy itself can subsist in no other 
way. 

We will now enquire what would have been the consequence, 
if, when Adam saw that Eve had sinned and was fallen, and 
was in instant expectation of seeing the penalty inflicted upon 
her, if he had refused to have partaken with her of the prohibit- 
ed fruit, and had withstood her solicitations and remained in his 
first and innocent condition 1 we ask what would have become 
of Eve ? We do not perceive that we can answer this question 
otherwise than by supposing she must have then died and been 
damned instantly, as were the apostatizing angels ; as it would 
have been impossible for her to have been saved, as no seed of 
the woman could have come into being, nor have been exhibited, 
as promised, and as an object of her faith to fix upon, nor to have 
made an atonement for her sin. No doubt, this, her horrid con- 
dition, just bending over the gulf of death, ready so far as could 
be known, to be driven thither by the vengeance of an outraged 
law, so wrought upon the pure mind of Adam, as moved the 
fountains of his sympathy for his other self, that he could not 
endure to see her driven away alone, when he resolved to bear 
her company, even to the gulf of death. His resolution to taste 
of the fruit, could not have arisen from any discontent with his 
own personal condition, nor from any ill will to the law of God, 
nor from any tendency in his constitutional make thus to sin ; 
but wholly from love and sympathy, when he sprang from the 
pinnacle of life down to the valley and depths of death, of both 
temporal and moral death, and became exposed to eternal death 
in hell. If Adam was not deceived when he ate of that fruit, 
(and St. Paul says he was not,) then it must have been as we 
have supposed, that Adam threw himself away for the sake of his 
wife, as no other cause appears to us possible. It will not do to 
say, that in the make and manner of Adam's spirit or mind, the 
Creator had placed any one ingredient of disposition, which by 
its operation should finally and inevitably eventuate in his ruin ; 
as such an opinion would trace the whole blame to the Creator, 
and to no other cause. That love and sympathy which Adam 
had for his wife, we dare not say was inordinate love ; as such a 
love would have been sin, even before his fall, which would 
prove him to have been already a depraved being, even before 
he sinned, which is impossible. It was done not in malice, not 
in pride, not in self will, not in contempt of the prohibition, not in 
discontent, nor from any depravity whatever, either in body or 
mind ; but from love, from pity, from sympathy, from tenderness 
of feeling, of the most exalted description for the poor forlorn one, 
who like an angel in ruins, hung upon Ms heartstrings with eyes 
beaming in brightness, fixed upon his, and seemed to say, 
come O my Adam, come to the Gods above with me ; I cannot 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 247 

haste away to those wondrous joys and know that thou art left 
alone. 

But Satan, her seducer, now that they had both fallen, ex- 
pected every moment to have the hellish joy of knowing that by 
his cunning, and as he supposed superior wisdom, two intellec- 
tual beings had been irretrievably ruined, by the advantage he 
had taken of certain innocent and pure dispositions of their 
minds ; and stood by, though invisible, to see their damnation take 
place. But what was his consternation and surprise, when instead 
of hearing the sound of angry thunders from on high, saying, 
depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and 
his angels ; he heard it said — as the sound thereof rolled through 
all heaven, and descended through the skies, and among all 
worlds — a ransom is found, a Redeemer shall come in the full- 
ness of time ; the seed of this very woman, which thou, O Satan, 
hast deceived, shall come, and shall bruise thy head, and bring 
about the rescue of the prey, and thy expulsion from the earth, 
as once from heaven down to hell, as was decreed in thy fall. 

Here we wish it to be observed, that Satan, in the plenitude of 
his wiles, wholly overshot his chief aim, by secretly influencing 
the mind of Eve to persuade her husband to taste the fruit ; as by 
that very catastrophe a door was opened, and the only door by 
which this seed of the woman, this Redeemer, who was to bruise 
and destroy Satan and his works in the earth, could have come 
into the world. If he had been contented to let Adam alone, 
when he had secured Eve, he could have boasted that he had 
destroyed one intellectual being by the means of a certain con- 
stitutional part of that one being's mind, which God himself 
was the author of, namely that of a desire of becoming ipiser, 
and of being as the angels of God ; and that he had done it so 
effectually and so irretrievably, that there was left no help — no 
way in which even the Almighty himself could rescue her and 
be just. But God, knowing his malice, knew that his aim was 
to ruin them both, and thaf by this very means he intended to 
prevent the future existence of the whole human race ; suppo- 
sing that if he could but bring about the extirpation of that first 
man and woman, that by this means the coming forward of the 
whole human race would be prevented, and therefore the earth 
would be created in vain, unless God would produce another 
human pair, which he knew was inconsistent. But heaven had 
him in derision ; for by this very act he ignorantly opened the 
only door of hope to poor lost Eve and the whole human race, 
contrary to his will, his interest, or his meaning ; as by that act 
there was opened a door by which salvation entered ; and thus, 
in the fulness of his malice, he baffled his chief design, which 
was to have obtained cause of boasting, even over his Creator. 

But Universalist writers believe that the whole account of 
man's fall, as related by Moses, is but a beautiful allegory ; be- 



248 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

ing in no part literally true. They say, there was no tree of 
knowledge — there was no creature called the subtilist beast of all 
the field — there was no devil who used the animal as a disguise, 
there was no such conversation between the animal, the Divine 
Being, and Adam and Eve, about the forbidden fruit ; as there 
was in fact, no such fruit, or tree, or any thing of the kind — as 
all is an allegory. But such persons have forgotten to add, that 
Adam and Eve, the garden of Eden, and even the Creator, are 
also included in this wonderful allegory : for if one part of it is 
not literal, why should the other part be believed to be so ? Ac- 
cordingly, we have here — as stated by Moses — an account of an 
allegorical Creator — an allegorical law — an allegorical Adam 
and Eve — an allegorical Eden, or place where this allegorical 
man and woman were placed — an allegorical tree of knowledge, 
— an allegorical beast of the field, very subtil — an allegorical 
death — an allegorical seed of the woman, which was to come into 
the world, to bruise the allegorical serpent's allegorical head, and 
thus produce an allegorical salvation ; and so on, with a world of 
such absurdities, if that account is not in all respects, literally true. 
But whatever Universalists may think, write, or speak, on this 
subject, we are able to show that the ancient Jews received this 
account as literal, and commented on it as such ; who as clearly 
and as definitely believed in the fall of man, in the same way the 
orthodox sects have, since the era of Christianity. See Apocry- 
pha, 2d Esdras, chap. iii. 4, 7 — on this very important matter, of 
which Esdras speaks, even in a prayer, when he supplicated to 
be resolved, in relation to some very mysterious matters in the 
Providence of God ; and says : " O Lord, thou that bearest rule ; 
thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, 
(in the empty space) and that, thyself alone, and commandest 
the people, (in Adam) and gavest a body to Adam without soul, 
which was the workmanship of thy hands, and didst breathe into 
him the breath of life, and he was made living (or as it is said 
in Genesis — a living soul,) before thee : and thou leadst him 
into Paradise, which thy right hand had planted : And unto 
him thou gavest a commandment to love thy way, which he 
transgressed, and immediately thou appointed death in him, and 
in his generations : of whom, came nations, tribes, people and 
kindreds, out of number." Also in another place of the same 
book, chap. vii. 48 ; the fact of Adam's literal fall, is stated as 
follows : « O thou Adam, what hast thou done, that sinned, thou 
art not fallen alone ; but we are all that come of thee." Also, 
in the book of Wisdom, (Apocrypha) we find the same doc- 
trine, as written by Solomon, ii. 24, 25 : " For God created man 
to be immortal, and to be an image of his own eternity : Never- 
theless, through envy of the devil, come death (the temporal 
death of the body, and moral death of the soul) into the world, 
and they that do hold of his side do find it ." Here it is said by 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 249 

Esdras, the Jew a notable doctor of their law, and by Solomon, 
that death came by the devil, who envied the happy and exalted 
condition of our first parents, and therefore procured their fall 
into sin and death. But Universalists say that death temporal, 
came by the course of nature — as was designed by the Crea- 
tor ; and that death, moral, or carnal, came by the dispositions 
of the upright, and immaculate souls of Adam and Eve, as 
produced by the Supreme Being. If so, Esdras, as well as 
all the doctors of the Jewish law, and writers of the New Tes- 
tament, have missed it exceedingly ; as these attribute it to sin, 
and the devil — a being distinct from human nature altogether. 
Again, in the book of Wisdom, as written by Solomon, x. 1 — it 
is said : " She (wisdom) preserved the first formed (or created) 
father of the world (Adam) that was created alone and brought 
out of his fall" by the promise of the seed of the woman, Jesus 
Christ. The above quotations from the writings of ancient 
Jews, respecting the literal fact of Adam and Eve's creation, the 
garden of Paradise, or Eden ; the tree of knowledge ; Adam and 
Eve s natural immortality ; the existence, malice, and envy of 
the devil ; Adam and Eve's fall, by which death of all kinds came 
into the world, and their redemption by the seed of the woman, is as 
plainly stated and intended, as any writer since the invention of 
letters, could express ; and to us fully proves that the Jewish 
Church, its doctors, members, and prophets, did believe all that 
account given by Moses, as fully, completely, and literally true : 
which doctrine was also received into the new, or Christian dis- 
pensation, at first, and has been acted upon ever since, as such ; 
except by a few — the same whom we oppose in the labor of this 
work — by whose influence and seductive opinions, semi-infidel- 
ity is induced, which is as bad, if not rvorse than a confirmed 
state of deism, in all ranks of the people ; but especially among 
young men, and the rising generation. 



Further Proofs of the Being of Satan, and of his real Iden- 
tity, as shown from the Book of Job, and many other Parts 
of Holy Writ. 

Thus far in the second volume of this work, we have treated 
upon the subject of the operations of Satan with the heads of the 
human race, and upon his personality and real being. We 
shall now look further in the book of God, to learn whether 
there are other passages which correspond to this view of the 
subject, as found in the book of Genesis, and of his acts as a real 
being ; by which we calculate to add other refutations of Uni- 
versalist opinions. 



250 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

In this pursuit, we cannot well pass over the notable history 
of the acts of Satan toward a certain man of antiquity, known to 
Moses as one of the princes of the land of Uz, or Idumea, a large 
district of ancient Arabia, whose name was Job, and flourished 
about sixteen hundred years before the time of Christ. This 
account the reader may find, as written by Moses, the biogra- 
pher of Job, in the first chapter of that book, commencing at the 
sixth verse, as follows : < ; Now there was a day, (or rather a time) 
when the sons of God (the holy angels of heaven) came to pre- 
sent themselves before the Lord, (according to the rules of order 
and law in use in eternity, for the regulation of the spirits, which 
no doubt is still the same, taking place at certain periods,) and 
Satan came also among them. Now the Lord said unto Satan, 
whence comest thou ? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 
from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and 
down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou consider- 
ed my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, (the 
whole globe,) a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God 
and escheweth (avoideth) evil (or sin.) Then Satan answered the 
Lord and said, doth Job serve God for nought ? Hast thou not 
made a hedge about him, and about all he hath, on every side ? 
Thou hast blessed the work of his. hands, and his substance is 
increased in the land. But put forth now thy hand, and touch 
all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face. And the 
Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power, 
only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went 
forth from the presence of the Lord." 

Accordingly, as Satan was so permitted to do, Job was soon 
ruined as to worldly possessions. His first onset was to excite 
a band of savage Sabeans from the desert, who fell in several 
parties upon his workmen and servants, as they were in the 
fields at work, and soon dispatched them, and drove away the 
cattle, the asses, camels and all, to the wilderness as a booty. 

In another part of his possessions, there fell fire from the 
clouds, as it was said by the messenger, who came running to 
tell Job what had happened. The fire of God, said he, is fallen, 
from heaven, and hath burnt up the sheep, and the servants are 
consumed, and I am escaped alone to tell thee. But this messen- 
ger had not finished his tale when from another direction there 
came running a man, who said, The Chaldeans made out three 
bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, 
yea, and have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and 
I only am escaped to tell thee. This was scarcely told, when 
there came on full speed a third herald of distress, who said, thy 
sons and thy daughters were eating, and drinking wine in their 
eldest brother's house ; and behold there came a great wind from 
the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it 
fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and I only am es- 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 253 

caped alone to tell thee. [See the Plate, which shows the pa- 
triarch sitting, and at rest in his chair of honor, who as the first 
messenger draws nigh, rises with alarm to hear him. In the 
air above is seen the devil exciting the winds, (who is said by 
the Saviour to be the power and prince of the air) and by it has 
blown down the house in which his children were feasting.) 

Here was ruin enough, such as the devil and those that are 
like him could alone take delight in, which was done by the di- 
rect agency and power of Satan, with the view of provoking 
righteous Job to sin and rail against heaven, on account of tem- 
poral sufferings. But he failed in the attempt, for when Job had 
received the full tale, of all that had befallen him, he fell upon his 
face and worshipped, saying, blessed be the name of the Lord ; 
naked came I into the world, and naked shall I return ; the Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be his name. 

Now after all this was done, Satan again appears at such time 
as the hosts of heaven assemble before God to give account of 
their acts, and to receive new commands ; which times or periods, 
as it seems, were well known to this fallen spirit. At this time 
also, as at the first, « The Lord said unto Satan, from whence 
comest thou ? and Satan answered the Lord and said, from go- 
ing to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 
And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant 
Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and up- 
right man, one that feareth God and escheweth (avoideth) evil, 
(sin) and still (notwithstanding what you have done unto him in 
the ruin of his wealth) he holdeth fast his integrity, although 
thou movest me against him, to destroy him without a 
cause. And Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, 
yea all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth 
thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will 
curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, 
he is in thy hand, but save his life. So Satan went forth from 
the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore biles from 
the soles of his feet to his crown." But even this severity and 
buffeting of the devil, did not cause Job to swerve from his in- 
tegrity and veneration of his Creator ; a thing which Satan very 
much desired to see accomplished, as he could not bear to know 
that a being less in intellect than himself, should even in a state 
of suffering remain faithful to his veneration for the Supreme 
Being. 

Now on the belief that there is no such being as the devil, as 
is held by Universalists, and that in the above account, there is 
no intimation of such a spirit, we are sadly puzzled to find out 
what is meant, and are led to believe that Moses has here uttered 
some very dark sayings which are likely to be kept hid from the 
beginning to the end of the world. If we cannot find among 
the race of men, one which will answer for a Satan } who could 



254 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

appear among the sons of God at certain times and accuse righte- 
ous Job, and one who had power to operate on the elements — on 
the minds of the Chaldean and Sabean banditti, and on the flesh 
and bones of a mortal, and all the while keep himself invisible, 
(as it does not appear that Job ever saw him during all his trou- 
ble with him) what shall we do for a good and sufficient Satan as 
shall answer to carry out this account of the Holy Ghost, with 
becoming dignity ? If we interpret the whole matter to have 
been carried on in the mind of Job alone, without the presence 
or interference of a second being, such as Satan, we are equally 
puzzled to make out a straight-forward and consistent meaning. 
For in such a case it may have been merely a dream, the night- 
mare, or some such thing which passed through his imagination 
either asleep or awake. But we cannot well see how a dream 
could so effectually kill all his cattle, his sons and daughters, and 
destroy his other property as well as his health, and alienate all 
his friends from him for a long time ; and then restore them all 
again with a vast increase of property, sons and daughters, &c. 
Or if we say it was an allegory, invented for the purpose of 
teaching mankind the doctrine of the providence of God toward 
his creatures in this life, and that the righteous and the wicked 
are not here dealt with according to their true characters ; yet 
are we still perplexed, for our Lord and the New Testament 
writers certify to the existence of Job and of his patience under 
his afflictions, which destroys the idea of the story's being an al- 
legory in any sense. If all that account was but the mere work- 
ing of Job's mind on theological matters, there having been no Sa- 
tanic influence exerted in the case — no real conversation between 
God and this Satan about holy Job's character and possessions ; 
then are we compelled to believe that Job foolishly entered the list 
against himself and in an uncalled for manner most grievously 
aceused himself to God of hypocrisy and dissimulation, and of 
moving God without a cause to destroy all that he had, not ex- 
cepting even his children and hardly his own life. We are 
compelled to make Job say, that he feared and loved God on ac- 
count of the wealth he had been permitted to accumulate in the 
land ; and that it was his opinion, if God would but take it all 
away by robbers, by fire from heaven, by the winds and by 
death, that he should no doubt be able to curse him to his face, a 
thing he very much wished to do. 

What an object was this for a man to propose to himself, at so 
great a sacrifice, and for so little profit. Surely this was a moral 
philosophy in the inverse proportion, one which was contrary to 
all proceedings in heaven, earth or hell which has ever yet been 
heard ofj except in Universalist theology. So the Lord took him 
at his word and tried him ; but Job found himself much mista- 
ken, as he proved to be much better than he thought he was ; as 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 255 

after all he wass not so willing to curse his God as he thought 
for. 

Well, having failed in this attempt to achieve the wondrous 
deed, being a wise and understanding man, he soon hit upon 
another plan which he supposed could not fail of reducing him- 
self to a willingness of cursing God to his face. This plan was 
to require of the Lord that he should smite his bones and his 
flesh with sore and horrible biles, the most painful and nause- 
ous, reducing him to a universal scab, that the stink of his per- 
son should be so intolerable as that there could be no approach 
to him except on the windward side. He wished to be so re- 
duced and wretched as that the boys of the meanest of the people 
should ridicule and abuse him, while he should sit down in ashes 
and scrape himself with bits of broken earthen. 

But even this plan did not succeed, as after all he found him- 
self utterly unwilling to curse God ; wherefore the whole of his 
immense sacrifice of property, of health, character and power, 
were expended to no account, as the thing he so much desired, 
namely, to curse God, was yet unaccomplished. 

Such is the nonsense arising out of this account, if it is to be 
understood as Universalists say it should be ; as they cannot on 
any account, admit of any other Satan in the case of Job, than 
poor Job himself : while at the same time he was saying to God, 
that he was a just and upright man, fearing God and avoiding 
evil, and that there was not another such in all the earth, so 
good and so perfect ; yet while he was saying this of himself, he 
is made to say by Universalists, that all his goodness was merce- 
nary and wicked, grievously accusing himself — as we must not 
forget that he was acting the part of a Satan against himself. 

If there was no Satanic influence in the case of Job, except 
such as arose in and out of his own mind, we should like to be in- 
formed how he went to work to influence the Sabeans, the Chal- 
deans, and freebooters of the desert, to fall upon his property and 
servants? or how he contrived to call down the fire of God from 
the clouds, the lightnings upon his servants and his camels, and 
the wind of the wilderness, which tore to atoms the house of his 
eldest son, where were assembled all his children, who were 
crushed in its fall. We see no way to get rid of the literal fact 
of this account but to call it a fiction, which we suppose a Uni- 
versalist would rather do, than to believe there is such a being 
as Satan, who is a fallen spirit, a distinct and supernatural being ; 
as such a belief would ruin the idea of no misery in eternity, as 
Satan must be miserable if he exists at all ; for this people, to a 
man, freely consent that if there is, or will be sinners after death 
in another world, that then there must be misery, and that misery 
is a hell. But they get rid of this idea by believing that at the 
time of the general resurrection all the human race will be raised 
up in a state of moral purity, and fitted for heaven. But if the 



266 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

account is received as a mere allegory, intended by Moses mere- 
ly to set forth the doctrine of God's providence, as before re- 
marked, as not always favoring the good with riches, nor pun- 
ishing the wicked with poverty and distress in this life, then the 
whole account is false ; because it does in the most circumstantial 
manner point out the man, by giving his very name, and the 
name of his country, the names of his daughters, and of his three 
friends, who essayed to comfort him with reproaches and accu- 
sations ; and also the exact number of his oxen, sheep, camels, 
and she asses, and that he was the greatest man of all the east. 
Now these circumstances carry the matter too far altogether for 
an allegory, and are entirely uncalled for, as an allegory on the 
subject could have been invented, without being so exceedingly 
particular m matters not at all illustrative of the doctrine intended 
to be taught. What good does it do to the subject, if the account is 
but an allegory, to state whether the asses were he or she, or how 
many oxen, camels and sheep he had ; would it not have been just 
as well, and a little better for Moses to have said that the man of 
his story was very rich indeed, and so let it have sufficed. But 
the allegory still stretches itself beyond all bounds, and becomes 
blasphemous, inasmuch as God and his holy angels are brought 
in to aid in carrying on this farce of making out Job's contra- 
dictory character, of being both a saint and a Satan, of the 
most acccomphshed description. If there was no third being in 
this affair, such as Satan is supposed to be, then God must be 
supposed to have done all those things to Job without a cause ; 
and Job to have accused himself falsely and foolishly to that God, 
which is absurd. If we say the account is really an allegory, 
then we may enquire why both the Old and the New Testa- 
ment bear testimony to the beings to the name, and to the pa- 
tience of this Job ; which on the other view they never could 
have done, that of the account's having been a mere allegory. 

On this subject : that of the being of Satan, as found in Job — 
the following is the view of Adam Clarke : — " And Satan came 
also? This word is emphatic in the original Hebrew, ha-JSa- 
tan, or the adversary. The Septuagint, or Greek translation, 
has the same sense ; also the Chaldee, the Syriac, and Arabic. 
St. Peter, 1st Epistle, chap. v. 8 — refers plainly to this place in 
Job ; and fully proves that ha-Satan, which he translates the 
adversary, is no other than the devil, or chief of the fallen an- 
gels. There are many demons mentioned in Scripure ; but the 
word Satan is never found in the originals of the Old and New 
Testament, in the plural number. Hence we infer that all evil 
spirits are under the control of one chief, Satan, the devil, who 
is more powerful and more wicked than those which are his 
inferiors. 

Many deny the existence of this evil spirit : but this is one of 
what St. John, (Rev. ii. 24,) calls the depths of Satan : as he 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 



257 



well knows that they who deny his being, will not fear his power, 
— will not watch against his wiles and devices — will not pray to 
God for deliverance from this evil one— will not expect him to 
be trampled under their feet, if he does not exist ; and conse 
quently, will become an easy and unopposing prey to this enemy 
of all souls. By leading men to disbelieve and deny his exis- 
tence, he throws them off their guard, by which he becomes their 
complete master, and leads them captive at his will. It is well 
known of those sects and persons who deny the existence of the 
devil, that they pray little, or none at all, and are apparently as 
careless about the being of a God as they are about the being of 
a devil. Piety toward God, is, with them, out of the question ; 
for those who do not pray, especially in secret, have no religion 
of any kind, whatsoever pretensions they may choose to make. 

King David, the author of the book of Psalms, a composition 
of the most magnificent diction extant on the earth, believed in 
the existence of Satan ; which we show from the 109th Psalm, 
6th verse, where a description of the treachery of Judas Iscariot 
toward Jesus Christ, is set forth, as commonly understood, in the 
following language : " Set thou a wicked man over him, and let 
Satan stand at his right hand? But if the guilty and trou- 
bled conscience of Judas is there called Satan, what sense was 
there in David's saying that this Satan should be at his right 
hand ; why did he not state it as it was to be, with his Satan, or 
accusing conscience in Judas' heart : how could David suppose 
that a man's conscience could be placed at his right hand. 
Would it not have been far better language, and more according 
to truth, (if there is no personal Satan,) had David said, when 
prophetically alluding to the treachery of Judas, and when in- 
voking the justice of God against him, " Set thou a wicked man 
over him, 1 '' and let his guilty conscience, which is Satan, be with- 
in him, instead of at his right hand. But concerning this 
Satan, who is mentioned here by David, the Arabic copy of the 
Old Testament says that it was Eblees, the chief of the fallen 
spirits, or angels, who were cast out of heaven for their rebellion 
against God. This is proof absolute, at least, that in ancient 
times the Satan of the Scriptures, was believed to be a real and 
literal existence, equally as much so as was an angel, a man, or 
even as is God himself. What though the word Satan in 
the Hebrew signifies an adversary, or an accuser, can this 
fact destroy the personality of an accuser, or an adversary? 
we think not, but rather establishes it. For it is impossible that 
an abstract principle, disconnected from any being, can be an 
accuser ; as all principles are passive till brought into action by 
some agent, and cannot, of their own accord, put forth action ; 
which, if they could, would cause them to become identified 
beings, and immediately would be recognized as creatures, or 
persons, whether visible or invisible, and would cease to be ah- 

16 



258 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



stract principles. But if this was said of the treachery of 
Judas lscariot, we should accordingly look for its accomplish- 
ment ; and as it was said in the imprecation of David, "let 
Satan stand at his right hand" we see that it turned out 
even as predicted of him. Judas, with the other disciples, 
having found a place, an upper room in Jerusalem, where he 
ate with the Saviour the pascal supper, conceived the heinous 
crime of betraying, that night, his Lord, to the officers of the 
Sanhedrim and the court of Herod. But not finding sufficient 
courage in his heart to carry into effect so horrid an act, 
Satan, it is said, came to his aid, and entered into him, and 
took the government of his mind ; when he hurried away to 
the Sanhedrim, and consulted how he might deliver his master 
into their hands ; see Luke, xxii. 3, 4-—" Then entered Sa- 
tan into Judas surnamed lscariot. . . . And he went his way, 
and communed with the chief priests and captains how he 
might betray him unto them." This fact is stated also by 
St. John, xiii. 27, where the account of the institution of the 
Lord's supper is found, and that also of Satan's entering into 
Judas, as stated by Luke above ; " And after the sop Satan 
entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him (when he saw 
the entrance of that spirit into his heart,) that thou doest, do 
quickly." By which the Saviour meant, seeing Judas had 
given himself over to the devil, to betray his Lord and mas- 
ter, that he should do it quickly if he did it at all. Accordingly 
he left the communion table of his Lord and brethren, and has- 
ted away in the dark a distance of about two miles, to the court 
room of the Sanhedrim, and agreed with them for thirty pieces 
of silver, which was about sixteen dollars, the ordinary price 
of a slave in those times ; a goodly price this for the God of 
all beings, in his humiliation among men. Now as soon as 
the bargain was finished, and Judas had his money, there was 
given him a company of soldiers, whom he conducted to the 
place where he knew his Lord and master was accustomed to 
resort for meditation and prayer, and betrayed him to them 
by a kiss. But soon after this, as he saw him arraigned in the 
hall of Pilate, and in all probability about to be condemned to 
death, he became conscience smitten, and said to the Sanhe- 
drim that he had betrayed innocent blood, and cast down the 
money they had given him, and rushed away in his sorrow, 
to a convenient place, with a rope in his hand, and hung him- 
self to a crag of a rock over a precipice ; but not having fas- 
tened the rope sufficiently sure, soon fell to the earth, bursting 
his bowels out by the shock, so that he died a most miserable 
death. 

Now, from all this, does it not appear that Satan was at his 
right hand, and in his heart, by whom his sin and his horrid 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 259 

death was brought about; because he yielded to his tempta- 
tion at the first, and fulfilled the prophecy of David in relation 
to this thing. The other part of the prophecy, which gave 
him over to the guidance of a wicked man, as it is expressed, 
u set thou a wicked man over him," was fulfilled in the per- 
son of the high priest who gave him the money, and urged 
him on to that work of treachery and murder, being instigated 
thereto by the devil ; as that chief of all evil spirits supposed, 
that by the death of Jesus Christ, he should destroy his great 
enemy the Son of God, so far as it related to his human na- 
ture, and thereby overturn and destroy the new doctrine of 
the Christian system, with its author. 

If the bad passions of the human soul, is all the Satan there 
is, where is the propriety of St. John's saying as he does, 
that Satan entered into Judas ? Surely, this is very strange 
language, and entirely improper, unless the fact was, that an 
evil spirit, called Satan, did enter into, and possess the heart 
of Judas, which was different and distinct from himself, urg- 
ing him on to the perpetration of a deed, which he would 
never have done, if he had not submitted himself to the influ- 
ence of the devil, and proves therefore, the existence of such 
a being ; as the evil passions of Judas Iscariot, were always 
within him, by virtue of his fallen nature, and need not, 
therefore, to enter into him, as they were always in him, as 
they are in every other man of the human race, till cast out 
by regeneration,- — which is the power of God unto salvation. 
If it is still persisted in, that the evil passions of Judas were 
the real, and only Satan of the case, then it follows, that his 
evil passions could come and go, at their own pleasure — like 
a snake in and out of a den ; for if this wa9 not so, then the 
language is exceedingly improper, as it is written that Satan 
entered into him, and proves, in our opinion, that till he so 
entered into him, he was not in him immediately before, un- 
less we wish to make nonsense of the word of God. 

But as we oppose the Universalist doctrine, of there being 
no devil, — it is perphaps incumbent on us to show, in what 
way this accuser of the saints, is more fully and perfectly 
cast down, than we have heretofore shown, in the local fact, 
respecting the victory of Christianity over heathenism, in the 
Roman empire, in the time of Constantine : seeing we be« 
lieve him to be a spirit, the leader of the fallen angels, — hav- 
ing a personal and conscious existence — which Universalists 
do not. This, we suppose, is done by Jesus Christ, in the 
great fact of the atonement, by which he has commenced to 
carry into effect his errand on earth ; — namely : to destroy 
both the devil and his works, (John, iii. 8,) by planting the 
principles of Christianity in the earth, and by reconciling an 



260 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

offended God to the human race, so far as to afford them a 
new opportunity in his Son, of recovering his favor ; who has 
by the propitiatory sacrifice of himself, obtained gifts for 
men, and by which he will finally destroy him who has the 
power of death — which is the devil — and his works out of 
the earth. 

But that God was ever unreconciled to man, on account of 
his sin, is denied most strenuously by all Universalist writers^ 
while they allow that man by sin, became unreconciled to 
God. In this, they endeavor to represent God as looking on 
the rebellion of his creatures, with an eye of indifference, as 
it respects himself. But we consider this impossible ; for 
whoever rebels against the statute of the state, by actual 
transgression, sets that statute against himself, and incurs its 
penalties ; on which account, the previous reconciliation, or 
agreement together, is destroyed as effectually, as if the stat- 
ute itself, could feel angry and vindictive feelings — which no 
man supposes. 

There is no agreement between error and truth ; and of 
course, there can be none between God and sinners. This 
fact however, raises no barrier to the possibility and desire 
of the Most High, to institute in his clemency and pity, a 
way of reconciliation, toward those who have offended, if 
their cacs ean come within the range of consistent mercy ; as 
all human violated statute is also reconciled, when its honor is 
maintained in the punishment of the offender : so also God 
ceases to be offended when the offender ceases to be a sinner, 
by any means whatever. But as there is but one means ap- 
pointed under heaven, in which the reconciliation can take 
plaee between God and man, we need look for no other. If 
it is contended that God looks with equal complacency upon 
him who violates his moral law, and him who keeps and ven- 
erates it, then why should men talk about a difference of 
character — seeing God makes none. Yet this is the whole 
labor of Universalists ; — namely ; to show that God makes no 
difference, and therefore, needs not to be reconciled to our 
race, by the sacrifice of his Son's human nature. 

Reconciliation on the part of God toward the world, is 
made out in the atonement ; which makes it possible for him 
to have mercy on repenting sinners — which he could not, in 
any other way — therefore, we contend that the Gospel is in- 
tended to reconcile both parties ; which is effected in the 
submission of the one, and in the condescension of the other. 
Satan is the enemy of this reconciliation : he must therefore, 
be destroyed ; which destruction is now in progress, by the 
operation of the virtue and power of truth, as made known to 
man by inspiration in the Holy Scriptures, over which, Christ 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 261 

the Saviour, presides, and will forever preside, till all ene- 
mies are rendered powerless beneath his feet. But as it 
respects atonement by the Saviour's death, Universalists hoot 
at it. That this was the object of Christ, is plainly stated — 
Hebrews, ii. 14 ; where it is said that Christ took upon him 
flesh and blood, so that by his own death, " he might destroy 
him that had the power of death, that is the devil." This 
very thing was had in view at the time of the first promise, 
which was made to Eve at the time of her fall, when it was 
said to her, that her seed should bruise the serpenVs head. 
It was this to which our Saviour alludes, when he said to the 
seventy disciples whom he had sent out to preach, on their 
return, that he " saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven :" 
by which we understand, his final victory over this infernal 
spirit, on the earth, and in eternity. In evidence of this, the 
circumstance of Satan's peculiar power, as exerted against 
the minds and bodies of men, at that period, being made 
subject to his name, proves the progress of those principles, 
of which Christ w r as the author, and which are finally to ob- 
tain in all the world ; for the seventy said on their return, 
that the very devils were subject to them, through his name. 
Thus, we imagine, we have briefly shown how Satan, the 
accuser of the saints, was cast down from the height of his 
power over man, by the fall, as well as down from the heaven 
of his heathen idolatrous worship in the ancient Roman em- 
pire. 

But we think we have other evidence of the same descrip- 
tion, and equally convicing, that the Satan of the Scriptures, 
is an intellectual being, a spirit, a fallen angel, and not a man, 
not a disease, not an image, not a principle, not a maniac, not 
a guilty human conscience, not distraction of mind, — but a 
being, a thinking conscious being — having in him the first 
principles of all evil — a being as capable of will, and of choice, 
in his ways, as any other being. That he is capable of will 
and choice, we prove from 2d Tim. ii. 26, where it is written : 
tl And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of 
the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." In this 
passage we learn that this spirit has the power of will, and 
proves him to be not an abstract principle, but a being, hav- 
ing the powers of will, choice, and pursuits, like other intel- 
lectual beings. 

But if he is capable of willing, and of choice, it mav be 
enquired, — why he does not will or choose to submit to God, 
and thus change his character and come out of his state of 
wo ? This we answer, is because he will not thus will to do ; 
as he incapacited himself in his first sinful act ; on which ac- 
count, his only and perpetual will, is to sin on ; as it is said 



262 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

of him by St. John — namely: that " the devil sinneth from 
the beginning." But it may be still enquired : is not this, 
his condition, the condition of fate? And if so, — how is he to 
blame for his continuation in sin, if he is fated thereto ? To 
this we reply : that if a man cut off his left hand, he is fated 
to its loss — as it cannot be restored except by the Almighty 
power of God — and must remain thus crippled, while life en- 
dures, as there is no power in nature, by which it can be res- 
tored. So may it not be with Satan ; that first sinful act of 
his, has cut him off from the moral support of his Creator, 
and rendered it inconsistent, and therefore impossible for 
even the Almighty to restore him, or change his character. 
If therefore, his condition is fate, all we can say of it is, that 
his fate has been induced and procured by himself, whereby 
he has thrown himself entirely beyond the reach of consistent 
and just mercy, or he would have been offered terms of sub- 
mission, as well as man, after he had sinned. 

See 2d Cor. xi. 13, 14, 15, and 16, — where St. Paul gives 
an account of certain men, whom he calls false apostles, or 
ministers — deceitful workers, who had transformed them- 
selves into the apostles of Christ, by hypocrisy and mere 
show. But St. Paul remarks on this subject, that such con- 
duct was no matter of surprise to him ; for this reason — 
namely : that Satan, their master, is often changed in his 
character, by the same means, and in the same way ; where- 
fore he has written it as follows : u And no marvel, for Satan 
himself is transformed into an angel of light: Therefore it 
is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed, as the 
ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to 
their works."" Now what is the argument this account af- 
fords? It is just this, in our opinion, — namely: that if there 
is no Satan in this case, who has a conscious and distinct 
being, and having the oversight of ministers ; who, according 
to St. Paul's account of them, were opposed to Christianity, 
then there were no such persons, as the Apostle calls minis- 
ters of Satan, as they could not be the ministers of a nonentity. 
There is just as much reason to deny the being of Christ— 
whose ministers Paul and his fellows were — as to deny the 
being of Satan — whose ministers those persons were of whom 
Paul speaks- — if one is but a mere principle, so also is the 
other, for the apostle Paul makes no difference as to their 
identity ; both of whom were beings of an invisible state ; 
though it is true Christ, but a short time before the time of 
Paul's writing the above, was on the earth, and seen of men. 

But how could Satan transform himself, and what was his 
appearance ? To this question w r e give as an answer, the 
remarks of Adam Clarke on this subject : u The apostle," 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 263 

(when he said Satan is transformed into an angel of light,) 
" had the history of the temptation and fall of man particu- 
larly in view, as in the third verse of the same chapter it is 
said, " But I fear least by any means, as the serpent beguiled 
Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted 
from the simplicity that is in Christ ;" and it is very likely 
that here he refers to the same thing. In whatever form 
Satan appeared to our first mother, his pretensions and pro- 
fessions gave him the appearance of a good angel ; and by 
pretending that Eve should get a great increase of light, wis- 
dom, and understanding, by which means he deceived her 
and led her to transgress.." But for ourself, we believe that 
Satan did not appear at all to Eve, in any form whatever, as 
there is no intimation in the text of Moses to that import ; 
but only that he entered into the organs of the animal called 
Nachash, and in that disguise transformed himself into an 
angel of light, or light bringer, by pretending to make her 
more wise than her Creator had made her. But on the sup- 
position that there is no Satan, what was it which St. Paul 
says transformed himself into angel of light ? Can that which 
does not exist transform itself from one thing to another? We 
believe not. It was not those false apostles of whom the 
apostle speaks, that did this thing, but the head and master 
of those false ministers, a being called Satan, who had power, 
it seems, to ape an angel of light, and had done so long before 
those hypocritical ministers were born. But on the Univer- 
salist plan and view of this subject, we are told that Eve's 
own mind was this Satan ; or in other words that it was the 
bad passions of her soul that deceived and misled her. If 
this was so, then Eve was created with bad passions ; if so, 
then her bad passions could not be called bad, as it is blas- 
phemy for any man to say, write, or think, that God ever 
created moral evil ; which, however, he has done, if Eve 
was created with bad passions, for bad passions is moral evil. 

But on this view, that of Eve's bad passions being the Sa- 
tan to which St. Paul above has alluded, that deceived her, 
there arises another strange conclusion, which is as follows : — 
If Eve's bad passions were called Satan on account of their 
being bad or inimicable to her happiness, then it may be en- 
quired, what kind of a being was she after she became changed 
into an angel of light? is it said of this angel of light that it 
was any better after the change than before ? O no, not at all ; 
for St. Paul still keeps up the idea that though Satan was 
an angel of light, yet he was but a Satan still. 

It is impossible to have any consistent view of this thing, 
in this way, namely, that of Eve's having had bad passions crea- 
ted within her by her Maker. Were this so, then Eve was at 



264 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

once furnished with a righteous excuse, when God said to 
her, " what is this that thou hast done V* for she could, and 
ought to have said, in reply to her Creator, that the Satan, 
the Nachash, the serpent, or the bad passions of her soul, 
which he had created within her, had deceived her by false 
reasoning, having turned into the semblance of an angel of 
light within her, and had beguiled her. But she has made no 
such excuse, as we learn from the text of Moses, who says — 
see Gen. iii. 14 — that the Lord God said unto the Nachash, 
or to the serpent as it is rendered, " Because thou hast done 
this thou art cursed above all cattle." Here we are at once 
instructed that this serpent was not Eve's passions, as God 
could not have called them cattle or behemah, which was the 
Hebrew word for beef, or animals of the quadruped or four 
footed kinds. Can any mortal in his right senses suppose, 
that Eve intended to charge herself with this deception, when 
she said, the serpent beguiled me ? if she did, why then did 
not God direct the curse to her, instead of to an animal, 
which he called behemah, or cattle. But this he did not do ; 
for he put the curse on the creature which Eve had talked 
with, and which she saw with her eyes, and pointed out to 
God, when he asked her what she had done, and called it 
Nachash, a term which did not apply to herself. If Eve did 
not allude to some creature when she thus replied, to what 
did she allude, as it cannot be shown that she alluded to her- 
self? her allusion, therefore, was every way a false allusion, 
a perfect nonentity ; and did God curse a nonentity, calling it 
cattle, and saying it should go on its belly, and eat dust all 
the days of its life ? But if it is viewed as a literal fact, and 
an evil spirit, became possessed of the creature's organs for 
the time being, and by this means deceived Eve with false 
reasoning, then it may be said with propriety — as St. Paul 
has said when alluding to this thing — that Satan, in that way, 
was changed into an angel of light, and that his ministers do 
the same, substantiating the fact of Satan's personal existence. 



Further Evidence given of the real existence of Satan, or the 
Devil, as found on examining the New Testament on this 
subject. 

But though the personal being of Satan in many parts of 
the Old Testament Scriptures, is spoken of, as already shown 
in this work ; yet in the New the proofs are far more abun- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 



265 



dant, though not more specific nor certain than in the Old. 
Matthew, the first writer in the order of the books of the 
New Testament, has but scarcely commenced his work, when 
he has introduced to our attention the being and the acts of 
Satan. See his 4th chapter, from the 1st to the 11th verse 
inclusive, in which we do not doubt but we discover the same 
being, retaining the same name, Satan, and the same pursuit, 
that of sin and moral ruin, as in the first Scriptures by Moses 
and the other prophets. St. Matthew's account begins thus 
— in which we find him almost at once, referring to this being : 
"Then was Jesus led of the (holy) spirit into the wilderness 
(of Judea, not far from Jordan, where he was baptized,) to 
be tempted of the devil," or of Satan, as it is in the eleventh 
verse. " And when he had fasted forty days and nights, (as 
Moses and Elijah had done,) he was afterwards hungry. 
And when the tempter came to him (the Saviour) he (Satan) 
said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones 
be made bread. But Christ answered and said, it is written 
man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil took 
him up into the holy city, (Jerusalem,) and set him on a pin- 
nacle of the temple, and said unto him, i/"thou be the Son of 
God, cast thyself down : for it is written, he shall give his 
angels eharge concerning thee ; and in their hands they shall 
bear thee up, least at any time thou dash thy foot against a 
stone. Jesus said unto him, it is written again, thou shalt 
not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil took him up 
into an exceeding high mountain, and shewed him all the 
kingdoms of the world, (or of that land which was then di- 
vided into three small kingdoms, under Herod and his two 
sons,) and the glory of them, and of the kingdoms of all the 
earth, by allusion, and said unto him, all these things will I 
give thee, £f thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then said 
Jesus unto him, get thee hence Satan : for it is written, thou 
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou 
serve. Then the devil left him, and behold angels came and 
ministered unto him." 

Now, if in all this, there is no intimation of the being of 
Satan, or the devil, as commonly believed, then it must fol- 
low, that there is none of Jesus Christ ; as there were two, 
according to the account, who talked together in that wilder- 
ness, at that time and on that occasion ; and if one of them is 
merely ideal, or but a principle in the abstract, then both are 
by the same rule of reasoning. The account is plain to the 
point, that two beings conversed together, and opposed each 
other in that conversation ; the queries of the one are repelled 
and answered by the other; and if one of the characters is 



266 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

believed to have been merely ideal, why not the other ? where 
is the proof to the contrary ? If it is said that Christ by no means 
can be considered as ideal in that conversation, because he went 
up from his baptism into the wilderness to be tempted ; and that 
he actually quoted Scripture there against his tempter, and was 
hungry ; which sensation, that of hunger, could never be felt by 
a mere idea ; and therefore proves his actual presence and being 5 
so it can be also said of Satan, that he came, or went to the Sa- 
viour, which shows him to have been a distinct being, or he could 
not have went to him ; and that he talked with him, and said 
many things about bread, about what the angels were charged 
to do concerning him, in the book of Psalms, and about his try- 
ing to get the Son of God to worship him, &c. ; which as spe- 
cifically marks out the identity of Satan as of Jesus Christ. Can 
it be imagined, without blasphemy, that the spotless Messiah 
went into that wilderness to tempt himself with wickedness, 
even to worship the devil ? but if there is no devil, as the Uni- 
versalists teach, then he was tempted to worship, what they sup- 
pose to have been, the evil passions of his own breast. Can any 
one suppose that he went there to tempt himself to fall down to 
his own presence, and to worship his own person ? which, how- 
ever, must have been so, or he was tempted to worship a nonentity, 
if there was no Satan who tempted him, who was different from 
himself at that time. It is said of Jesus Christ, that he was 
without sin, and that he knew no sin ; and that he was the lamb 
of God, without spot or blemish, and that guile was not found 
in his mouth \ yet we are told by Universalists, that this devil 
which tempted him in the wilderness, was the workings of 
his own human passions, the same as in the breast and soul of 
any other man, but that he overcame them. If this were so, 
then was the Saviour of the world far from being without sin, 
as evil passions are sinful, and are evidence of a state of depravi- 
ty where they are found. When the Saviour, at a certain time, 
was contradicted and reviled by the Jews, he enquired of them 
which of them could convince him of sin — John, viii. 46 — 
" Which of you convinceth me of sin." What a pity that some 
wise Universalists had not been there to help the Jews, by just 
reminding them that Jesus was a depraved creature, like any 
other man, as he was nothing but a man ; but that it was likely 
he managed pretty well to govern his passions ; yet from the 
fact of his depravity, ox similar condition with themselves, there 
could be no good reason why he could not be guilty in some 
respect, as well as other men. But it is no marvel that Univer- 
salists should contend that Jesus Christ had bad passions like 
other men, for it is the awful fact, that they do believe he was not 
begotten, as to his human nature, of the Holy Ghost, but by a 
human father, as is the case of all men, Adam alone excepted ; 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 267 

the consequences of which opinion we have shown already in 
this work. 

At certain points in the course of his temptation, as related by 
St. Matthew, the tempter, or Satan, said to Christ, if thou be the 
Son of God, then do this and that ; for instance, make bread out 
of stones, or cast thyself headlong from this pinnacle. But if all 
this transpired and originated in Christ's own bosom, without 
the interference of a second being, then it follows that he tempted 
himself to doubt whether he was the Son of God ; as the reader 
will observe that he said, if thou be, &c. — which form of speech 
implied doubt — then do this and that. Can it be, that Christ, 
who proceeded and came forth from the father, to inhabit the 
body which the Godhead had prepared for him ; as it is written 
in Hebrews, x. 5, 7, "a body hast thou prepared me. Then 
said I, lo I come, in the volume of the book, it is written of me, 
t@ do thy will, O God." Can it be said that this being said to 
himself, get thee hence Satan, and the person who says so not 
be guilty of blasphemy ? And such must have been the fact, if 
it is not admitted that Christ was tempted and tried, afflicted 
and abused, by a being distinct from himself in nature, name, 
and character, in that same wilderness. 

As it respects Satan's transporting the Saviour through the 
air, to the top of a high mountain, and to a pinnacle of the tem- 
ple, there is nothing contradictory or inconsistent in this ; as we 
know he could have permitted Satan to do this, as easily as him- 
self could walk on the waters of the lake Genesareth without 
injury. We do not suppose that Christ empowered Satan on 
that occasion, to do this ; but as Satan, who is the power and 
prince of the air — Eph. ii. 2 — has, as a supernatural being, cer- 
tain attributes, by which the common laws of nature are over- 
come by him, could therefore, if permitted, transport the body of 
the Saviour through that element. 

What must his disciples have thought of him, who when they 
became converted to him, and had received him as their master 
and teacher, when he related to them this account, as he must 
have done, there having been no witness present in the wilder- 
ness — how that on a certain time, as he was walking in the 
woods, he was self tempted to doubt his being the Son of God ; 
and to become a great king, have a crown, expell the Romans 
from the country, and to restore the Jews to the glory of their 
ancient temporal condition, and much more so; and that he 
repelled the temptation brought by himself, and called himself 
Satan, and told himself to go hence, and that he was his own 
worst adversary, slanderer and accuser. All this he must have 
done, if the Universalist's sentiments and comments on the temp- 
tation of our Lord, is correct, namely, that there was no Satan 
in the case, except Christ's own immaculate mind. This view 
of the subject would reduce the God-man of our salvation to the 



268 



HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 



very same condition with ourselves, and exhibit him as a de- 
praved creature, who stood in as much need of a Redeemer, or 
of an atonement, as any other person of our race ; which senti- 
ment should any one avow, would be blasphemy, as it would be 
speaking injuriously of the character of Jesus Christ. 

If we say that all the evil principles of our fallen and de- 
praved nature — as anger, malice, envy, lusts of every description, 
pride, cruelty, covetousness, ingratitude, malevolence, and stu- 
pidity, were all personified in one hideous group, or person, in 
the mind, or view of the Saviour, which he saw fit to call Satan, 
or the devil ; yet it is impossible to suppose that these passions 
could talk, contradict, argue, and qu@te Scripture, as St. Matthew 
says Satan did. This is a latitude of action, and ability, which 
cannot be ascribed to the personification of any principle what- 
ever, as set forth in any part of the Scriptures. If it were the 
evil principles of human nature, which were thus personified, as 
Universalists believe, — why call them the devil 7 — as there is no 
type, or thing in existence, after which such a personification 
could have been named or modeled ; — if there is no such being, 
why did not the Saviour say that it was his view of human na- 
ture, which presented itself before him ; instead of saying that it 
talked with him awhile, and then went away ? How came the 
evil passions of human nature to be so well acquainted with the 
Bible? — for we see they quoted a passage out of the book of 
Psalms, (xci. 11, 12,) and had the art of quoting it in a mutila- 
ted manner, with the view of deceiving the Saviour ; which 
reads : " To keep thee in all thy ways? Those personified evils 
of human nature, it seems, chose to omit in its quotations 
the most important part of the statement — namely : that of keep- 
ing the Messiah in all his ways, while incarnated in human 
nature. 

If the Saviour wished to be tried by the arts, machinations, 
and devices of depraved human nature, why go into the woods, 
where there was no human being to be found ? Why not go 
into the society of the worst description that he coul find ? — as 
such a method would have exposed him more fully to such a 
personified condition, or representation of the disposition of our 
race, than could have taken place in the wilderness. If he 
wished to inform his disciples of the real moral condition of man- 
kind, why did he not state it plainly, and call it human nature ; 
rather than by an unmeaning name — the devil, — which had no 
reality or foundation in being 1 But as it respects this personifi- 
cation sentiment, it is ridiculous, from another view of the subject, 
when it is recollected that Christ needed no such exhibition, or 
personification of human nature, for his better understanding it, on 
account of his omniscience ; of whom it is said, (John, ii. 24, 25,) 
that " he knew all men ; and needed not that any should tes- 
ttfy °f 'man, for he knew what was in man? It appears also 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 269 

from several other Scriptures, which might be cited, that the 
thoughts of men's hearts were known to him, ere they were ut- 
tered in words : what use therefore, could such a personification 
of the evil passions of man be to the Saviour, in point of his get- 
ting at that time, a full and fair view of them, more than he 
always had a knowledge of? None at all ! 

This Satan, then, which tempted him in the wilderness, could 
not have been his own pure mind, nor yet a view of the passions 
of our race ; as the Satan which came to him there, performed 
actions which are impossible to be supposed, as the result, either of 
his own nature, or that of man's ; for he could not have doubted 
that he was the Son of God, as the tempter certainly did, which 
we learn from, &c, if, on that subject ; neither could the bad pas- 
sions of his nature, or mere passions, have quoted the book of 
Psalms, with a view to his ruin. St. Mark (chap. i. 13,) states 
the case plainly, by saying that Christ was in a wilderness, 
among the wild beasts of the forests, and that Satan was present 
to tempt or try him, and that he was there in the woods, night and 
day, one month and ten days, or in other words, forty days. St. 
Luke says that he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted of 
the devil. 

But on the supposition, that all the devil there was in the case, 
was the passions of the Saviour's own heart, which tempted him 
then there follows a very curious result; which is, that his 
bad passions, when they had done what they could to destroy 
him, left him and went away ; when angels came and ministered 
unto him : but pretty soon; or before a great while, they all came 
back again. This we learn from Luke, iv. 13, where it is said : 
"And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed 
from him for a season ;" which implies, that he returned again, 
and for aught we know, entered anew into his old possession ; 
to which we can see no objection, if — as Universalists say — he 
was no more than a mere man, abstracted from his delegated 
powers ; as they hold that all his powers were delegated to him 
from God. 

But if we admit the literal existence and presence of such a be- 
ing as Satan, as commonly supposed on that occasion, then all 
these difficulties, which arise on the other view, vanish out of 
sight, and the mind is relieved from an agonising struggle to de- 
fend and make appear as consistent, that which is impossible in 
its very nature. Were it possible that this plain and specific ac- 
count of Satan and Jesus Christ, as given by St. Matthew, Mark 
and Luke, could be viewed as a parable, or an allegory, surely 
Mr. Ballou, a champion of Universalist unconditional salvation, 
from no hell, no devil and no fall in Adam, would have so treat- 
ed it ; yet he, even Ballou, has passed the whole account, as gi- 
ven by St. Matthew, entirely over in silence, in his famous book 
on the parables ; which silence we consider very remarkable. 



270 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

But some who believe in the literal existence of Satan may 
desire to know why Satan should thus have tempted and tried 
our Lord, if he knew that he could not prevail over him at last. 
The only answer, perhaps, which can be given to this query is, 
that though he then knew who he was, and his character and 
errand on the earth, and that he would prevail, yet as he had ta- 
ken upon him the weakness of human nature, such as Adam 
possessed before his fall, and that he had condescended to the 
form of a servant ; that now he had the first and only opportu- 
nity of afflicting him, who was his Creator, united with flesh and 
blood, by insult and abuse the most aggravating and mean. He 
therefore, agreeable to his own debased and malicious nature, 
gladly seized upon the opportunity. According to the rules and 
mysteries of eternity, of which man knows but little, it appears 
that this second Adam, our Saviour, who was the Lord from 
heaven, 1 Cor. xv. 47, must, as a celestial gladiator, enter the 
list with this infernal spirit, dressed in the iorm and habiliments 
of unfallen human nature, and expose the virtues thereof to the 
keenest attacks of that subtilest of all the fallen spirits, and come 
off victorious, so as to honor that law in its essence, which was 
given to Adam in Paradise, the law of obedience, or the redemp- 
tion of the world, as intended by the Saviour, could not have 
progressed another step toward its consummation. 

That this person, who had gone into the wilderness, whom 
Satan pursued and watched, was the Son of God, he knew from 
what was said at his baptism in Jordan, when a voice from hea- 
ven declared him to be His beloved Son. He therefore knew 
that the time had now come, when he, as the Messiah, was com- 
mencing his spiritual kingdom among men, and to overturn 
the works of Satan in the earth ; and therefore, as Christ, the 
Eternal Word, had come down to the condition of man, and 
was to establish his church among fallen beings, he was deter- 
mined to seize the opportunity to distress and harass him, while 
in this condition, all that was in his power. Satan knew the 
prophecies respecting the coming of this character, but most of 
all, he remembered the promise of God to Eve, that her seed 
should bruise his head ; and withal he remembered that it was 
given to him to bruise the heel of this seed by death on the cross. 
This spirit therefore gloried in the opportunity, and commenced 
his operations with him by mockery and insult ; pretending to 
doubt whether he was the Son of God, but if he was he wished 
him to give some proof thereof; as the making bread out of 
stones, and of casting himself down from a pinnacle of the tem- 
ple unhurt, &c. He even carried his audacity so far as to ask 
the Saviour to fall down and worship him, and to offer Him 
who is the creator and proprietor of Universal nature, as pay- 
ment for so doing, possession of the earth. The Saviour sub- 
mitted to this abuse from the infernal spirit, so as to become a 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 271 

faithful High Priest to all who should put their trust in him ; 
and that men might know that he had gone down to the depths 
of degradation, for their sakes, and that he had come up from 
thence without a stain, and had conquered the devil's malice and 
pride by his meekness and wisdom. 

Concerning the temptation of Christ in the wilderness by the 
devil, some believe that the whole event transpired in a dream or 
a vision. But this, no more than the other problem about per- 
sonified human nature, explains the difficulty, as there is no in- 
timation of its having been a dream or a vision : and more than 
this, it is incipient blasphemy even to imagine that the Holy 
Ghost might have presented the image of Satan in a dream or 
vision of the Saviour, if he does not exist ; as such a procedure 
must have been a false representation. 

But some have imagined, that because the Saviour was tempt- 
ed of the devil, that a possibility of his having been overcome, 
did exist, as well as in the case of man ; wherefore they have 
supposed that it was within the reach of possibility that he might 
have failed ; and God's promises, with all the prophecies, and 
the atonement and salvation of men, been utterly defeated. But 
the thought should never be harbored for a moment, that be- 
cause the Son of God condescended to be tried, by abuse even 
from the devil, that on that account he was liable to sin, as that 
was impossible. Satan himself knew better than this, yet that 
was no reason why he should not exert his power to afflict him, 
in his humiliation; for Satan is mean as well as wicked. We 
are not to suppose that our Lord was tempted to sin as men are 
now tempted, who are fallen, impure and prone to evil continu- 
ally ; whose appetites and passions are wrought upon by the 
devil, by his exciting unlawful gratification. But this cannot be 
said of Jesus Christ, as he did not take upon him man's fallen 
nature, but only the same as that of Adam before his fall ; conse- 
quently there was nothing in him to which the temptation to 
sin could have been suited or adapted. What then is meant, 
when it is said, as in Heb. iv. 15, that Jesus Christ "was in all 
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin?" This is the 
meaning, as we apprehend : he was tried and afflicted by suffer- 
ings, in all points as we are, yet he did not sin ; on which very 
account it is said in the same verse, that " he can be touched 
with the feeling of our (sinless) infirmities, because he hath fell 
the same." This sense is confirmed in Luke xxii. 28, where it 
is seen that the Saviour said to his disciples, " Ye are they which 
have continued with me in my temptations" afHictions and 
trials, and have not forsaken me on that account. When it is 
said in the Lord's prayer, " lead us not into temptation" we are 
not to suppose that we are to pray to God not to lead us to com- 
mit sin; as this would be admitting that he might possibly, un- 
der some circumstances, sometimes, even lead us to commit sin, 



272 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

which is impossible for him to do, as he tempteth no man. But 
the meaning is, lead us not into afflictions, sorrows, and dis- 
tressing circumstances, of a temporal nature ; as of extreme 
poverty, war, famine, pestilence, accidents, and the extraordinary- 
exigencies of human existence ; but if such, in the divine provi- 
dence, should be found necessary as disciplinary punishment, 
it was proper to say, deliver us from evils of this kind, as well 
also as from those of a sinful nature. 

That Christ was led of the spirit of God into the wilderness, 
to be tempted of the devil, is attested to in the most particular 
and satisfactory manner, by St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke. 
But on the supposition, which Universalists indulge in — namely : 
that there was no devil which tempted him on that occasion, except 
the corrupt desires of his own bosom — such as all men are afflic- 
ted with, then there was no need that he should go forty days tnio 
the woods, among wild beasts ; for the devil which tempted him 
was ever with him, forming a part of his very nature, and frame 
of spirit. 

Can it be supposed that he imagined, that were he to withdraw 
himself entirely from the company of men, into the wilderness, 
that by so doing, he should afford himself a better opportunity, 
to tempt himself to his own defeat and ruin ? We should think 
not : as by this act there could have been no diminution, or in- 
crease of the evils of his nature, even on the view Universalists 
have of that transaction, and therefore, he might as well have staid 
among his disciples. On the Universalist view of this subject, 
we are not able to ascertain the reason why Christ went into the 
wilderness at all ; as there is no devil, — but human nature alone. 
Mr. Ballou in his Treatise on Atonement, page 54, asks the 
question in a kind of shreiod manner, as if secure of victory ; — 
whether the devil ever tempts any body contrary to their passions 
and the influence of motives ? He answers — No ! He then 
states a case as follows: "Suppose a man to be exceedingly 
hungry, and an agreeable meal is set before him, and he is invi- 
ted to refresh ; at that moment the devil comes and tempts him 
to eat. What would the temptation avail on the hungry man, 
supposing, in room of tempting him to eat, he should tempt 
him not to eat ? would he be likely to succeed?" 

On this view of the subject, we grant that in such a case, the 
word, and even the idea of temptation, in relation to a man's 
eating when hungry, is as inapplicable as if it were applied to a 
dumb beast, which should do the same thing ; for the operation 
of natural philosophy, or of simple nature, as in the case of hun- 
ger, needs nothing to excite, farther than mere appetite. 

But will this similie do, when the case is carried higher, and 
assumes a tincture of moral evil ? we think not ; because, if a 
man refuses to eat when hungry — and it is lawful for him to do 
so — he then sins against his own comfort, as well as the benevo- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 2?3 

lent purposes of the Divine Providence. How many have 
starved themselves to death contrary to the cravings of appetite 7 
Thousands ! It may be replied, nature with all her frowns for- 
bidding such a course. Of such an one, it may be said, that he 
is tempted of the devil, to do an act contrary to this innocent 
trait of animal nature ; as any other reason why a man should 
do so is hard to learn. 

But respecting the existence of a devil, this writer says on the 
same page, as above quoted — namely, the 54th — that he has 
"•no objection to believing that there is stick a devil as the Scrip- 
ture speaks of, and adds : he is called the old serpent, and is the 
same which beguiled the woman, in the beginning ; and is the 
carnal mind, which is enmity against God. one who was a liar 
from the beginning. 

In the account of the Creation of Adam and Eve, we hear 
nothing of there having been created within them a carnal 
mind, if they had such a mind ; but according to Mr, Ballou, this 
was the fact, as they could have derived it from no other source, 
there being no other cause, God says, respecting them, that 
they were created very good, pure, holy and upright ; but Mr. 
Ballou says they were at enmity with God from the beginning, 
in their lusts, and that he created them thus, for wise purposes. 
This doctrine he backs up on his book, page 68, Treatise on 
Atonement, by -saying that "the Almighty has a good intention, 
in every volition of man ; and that man is dependent for his voli- 
tions, and moves (or acts) by necessity." On this view, no blame 
can attach itself to the characters of our first parents, however 
deep and palpable their enmity to God may have been, no more 
than to any and all the works of God beside — whether animals, 
trees, the waters, or any of the elements of nature — dereliction 
from right, or their fall from their primitive condition, cannot be 
made out. on this view of the subject. 

Mr. Ballou's belief that there is no other devil in being, except 
the carnal mind, which is found in the soul of man, ruins the 
character of Christ, as well as of Adam and Eve. As it is fol- 
lowed up with a consequence equally horrible with the one 
above noted — that of our first parents being created wicked ; as it 
will show that Jesus Christ — of whom it is said, that he was with- 
out sin, blameless, spotless, and immaculate — had within him, 
and as deeply fixed, this same devil, or carnal mind, which is 
enmity against God, as any other being of the human race. 
How is this made out ? According to Mr. Ballou's opinion, it is 
made out by St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, when they say 
that Christ went into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; or 
in other words — as Mr. Ballou understands them — went into the 
wilderness to be tempted of his own carnal mind ; which he 
says, is the same devil, old serpent, and Satan, which sinnetk 

17 



274 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

from the beginning", the same who deceived Eve, This is back- 
ing* up the Jews, who hated Christ, with a most mahgnant hatred 
— saying of him that he had a devil and was mad ; for Mr. Ball- 
lou makes out the same thing r by saying he had a carnal mind ; 
which is the true and only devil of the Scriptures, as he believes. 
What are we to think of this ? A people claiming patronage of 
Christianity, and of Christian people of the world at large, and 
at the same time make such horrible work of the Holy Scriptures 1 
We are at a loss how to express our sorrow at such doings — 
such mangling — such barefaced and strange perversions of 
matters of fact ; done because Universalists have struck out for 
themselves a path, which recognizes no devil, no hell, and no day 
of judgment: as these things are too frightful and appalling to- 
me imaginations of the wicked \ they therefore, must and bhall 
be rejected from the code of Christianity. This plan is as fitly 
chosen, and adapted to the wicked propensities of men, in their 
fallen and natural condition, as was Mahomet's; who taught 
that heaven abounded in sensual gratifications, in the fullest 
sense of the word, in eternal perpetuity. How do we make this 
out ? Why because Universalists teach that there is no such 
thing as a spiritual supernatural regeneration of man's soul m 
this life, to fit him for heaven, as heaven is sure to all the race 
without it. On this belief, who is the man that will deny him- 
self of passion indulgences, and take up his cross and follow 
Christ, sorrowing for his sins, seeking to be born again, to be 
renewed after the image of him who created him ; to be made 
holy, suffering persecution for Christ's sake, in meekness and 
fear? No man! as he certainly will recollect that of all this 
there is no necessity, heaven being as sure to Voltaire as to St. 
Paul, and of course to him. It is i?npossible, with this belief in 
the heart, for a human soul ever to become possessed of true 
Christianity, in the spiritual sense of the word ; as the whole 
great seheme is withered down to a mere selfish morality, and to 
a mere nominal belief, that men ought to do right toward each 
other — a thing as well known by Pagans as by Universalists, 
without the aicl of their teachings — and places Christ on a level, 
as to mere human nature, with Seneca, Socrates, Aristotle, and 
all the philosophers of Greece and Rome, either before or after 
the era of Christianity, reducing him to a mere teacher of mor- 
ality. The whole stupendous fabric of a world redeemed of 
the incarnation of God in human nature— of the sacrificial death 
of that sinless human nature or body — of salvation on the condi- 
tion of faith in that Redeemer, from sin in this life and the life to 
come — of the new birth— of the sanctions of the law of God — a 
day of judgment, and a final hell for the finally wicked, is broken 
down at a blow, at one buffet of this neutralizing, stupifyinE:, 
withering, sophistical, unscriptural, son of infidelity, Universal- 
ism ; and all this because it is too humbling to the proud, wicked 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIFf URE«. 2/0 

heart of man to submit to sue for mercy, to ask the pardon of 
sins, to fear God on account of the awful sanctions of his law, 
and the debased condition of the fallen spirit of man ; a smoother 
path therefore, they think they have found, in which no track of 
a devil, or smell of future punishment is known ; inviting all 
men to enter this broad, smooth, delectable highway, and rush 
with them through the broad gate that opens into eternal bliss, 
in exact opposition to the declaration of the Son of Gcd, who said, 
"Straight is the gate and narrow is the w T ay w T hich leadeth to 
life, and few there be that find it ; while wide is the gate and 
broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be 
which * go in. thereat/' Match, vii. 13, 14. 

That Jesus Christ was naturally as depraved a being as any 
other man, is not strange for Universalists to believe ; for as we 
have before shown, they hold that he had a natural father, the 
same as other men, and of course was of necessity as depraved 
as other men by nature, and possessed of as much enmity to God 
as other men, having a carnal mind — which is enmity against 
God — the same as all men have. On which account they deny 
the presence of the devil, as a being distinct from that of Christ, 
in his temptation or trial in the wilderness, as unnecessary to the 
meaning of St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke, on that subject. 
But if Christ had no natural father, but. was an incarnation of the 
deity, then he was not a fallen creature — had not a depraved 
spirit — a carnal mind — nor any traces of depravity — being the 
second Adam, the Lord from heaven ; ihen it must follow, that 
the being called the devil, who tried the Saviour, by abuse, &c., 
as we have before described, was a distinct being from Christ 
himself ; and proves the fact of the existence of a supernatural 
Satan, such as the orthodox churches believe exists. 

That Universalists believe Christ to have been as depraved 
and sinful as other men of his time were, we quote Hosea Ballou 
again — see Treatise on Atonement, pages 50, 51, 52, where he 
is endeavoring to make it clear that all the devil there is, consists 
in the lusts, passions, and carnal-mindedness of men ; which to 
make out, he quotes the Apostle — St. James, i. 14: "When a 
man is tempted, he is drawn away by his own lusts, and enticed," 
and he then adds, that — "Any person who is wholly dictated by 
a fleshy mind, may justly be called a devil." This conclusion 
of his, we now apply to the human nature of Jesus Christ, viewed 
through Mr. Ballou's reasonings ; who says, " when he hunger- 
cd, he was tempted by a fleshy appetite. When he had a view 
of all the kingdoms of the earth, and their glory, he was tempted 
to avail himself of them. Here was natural ambition ; such 
as gave rise to the victories of an Alexander, when he was 
tempted to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple : 
here was that passion which gives rise to presumption, and 
wishes to avoid duty." Does not this view oi Christ moke him 



276 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

in his heart, as depraved as other men : — equally so with the 
ferocious conqueror of the world, Alexander the Great ? It 
most certainly does : — though there was a great difference in 
their acts, yet at heart they were alike. What though Christ 
conquered these passions, and would not allow them to reign, 
yet they are found within him, according to Mr. Ballou, which 
makes him just as depraved at heart, as any other man ; and 
depravity is sin, and corruption ; and yet Mr. Ballou calls him 
a sinless being ; as were he to write him a sinner, it would be 
too barefaced : the people would not bear it ; yet by inference, he 
makes him equally wicked, as to his nature, with any and all 
other men. If there is no other devil, but the lusts of the human 
heart, then indeed was Christ a depraved and corrupt being, as 
infered from the writings of Universalists, because St. James 
straightly says, " When a man is tempted, he is drawn away 
by his own lusts." And Christ most certainly was tempted by 
the devil, or rather by his lusts, as Universalists say. Now 
would it not be far better — more modest, more wise, and more 
according to the analogy of truth, and matter of fact — as stated 
over and over in the New Testament — to believe in the existence 
of a devil, rather than to make our Lord — the Saviour of all that 
put their trust in him — to be a poor miserable depraved man, the 
same as ourselves are — full of lusts, bad passions, and appetites ? 
Earth, heaven, and even hell, answers Amen : it would be more 
modest, more wise, and more according to truth. 

But a querist may still wish to know, what St. James meant, 
when he said, that " When a man is tempted, he is drawn away 
by his own lusts ;" as if there is no other tempter, but that of lust 
alone. To give our view of his meaning, we will suppose — as 
Universalists contend — that there is no devil, except the carnal 
mind, which, as we believe, had its origin in the fall of our first 
parents. This carnal-mindedness is, in and of itself, ever point- 
ing to acts of hostility, and sin against the law of God — even 
without a devil to tempt, as its own nature is enmity against 
God, and cannot cease from sin, till it is destroyed in regenera- 
tion, by the Holy Ghost. We wish to be understood, that such 
is our view of the fallen and depraved state of the human race, 
that they will sin on, even though there were no devil in exist- 
ence, till renewed by the spirit of the Lord. Yet though we 
believe this, and that this was the meaning of St. James; yet we 
do not allow that St. James did not also believe in the being of a 
devil, distinct from man's lusts ; because he has himself stated to 
the contrary — see chap. iv. of his Epistle, at the 7th verse, where 
it is written—" resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 
But, says one, how does this statement of his, prove his belief in 
the existence of a devil, other than our lusts ? It proves it from 
this consideration ; though a man resist his lusts, and over anx- 
ious appetites, never so much, and ever so successfully, yet they 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 277 

do not forsake him. nor flee from him ; as the appetites and pas- 
sions of human nature will continue with us as long as life lasts ; 
religion, if we have it, merely controlling them, and bringing 
them into subjection to the law of God, but not causing them to 
flee away from us, or out of our nature; as St. James says the 
devil will, if we resist him in the name of the Lord Jesus, as we 
suppose he means. If the Apostle meant to say, that if we resist 
the cravings of our lusts, or appetites, we shall overcome them ; 
then it would seem that he ought so to have written it, instead of 
saying they will flee away from you. There is another reason 
why he never could have meant the passions of our nature in that 
text ; and this is it : the passions and appetites are many, which 
cannot be spoken of but in the plural number ; while St. James 
has used the singular, the devil — which is but one ; and besides 
this, he has used the masculine gender he, in relation to the be- 
ing he speaks of, which cannot be made to appJy to the passions 
and appetites of men, at- no rate at all. 

Bat, says a Universalist, the whole of your remarks on this 
subject, so far as they relate to charging us with believing that 
Christ was a depraved being, go -for nothing ; as we do not be- 
lieve depravity exists at all, except in sinful actions : now as we 
believe Christ did not sin, we contend he was not depraved ; the 
same we say of all men, beginning with Adam : — no man is de- 
praved, only as his actions are such, and contaminates their 
influence ? But to refute this, we proceed to show that all the 
progeny of Adam are depraved in nature, prior to actions ; both 
from Scripture and matter of fact. 

We begin with, (Genesis, vi. 5,) "And God saw that the 
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that eviry im- 
agination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continual- 
ly." Isaiah i. 5, 6. "The whole head is sick, and the whole 
heart is faint. From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, 
(spiritually) there is no soundness in it f — that is, there is no 
soundness in the heart. Jer. iv. 14 — " O Jerusalem, wash thine 
heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved : How long 
shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee." Jer. xvii. 9 — " The 
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. 
Who can know it I" We answer, none but God can know how 
wicked and depraved it is. St. Paul has clearly shown the nat- 
ural corruption and utter depravity of the human heart. See 
Rom. hi., from the 9th to the 18th verse inclusive ; in which he 
has made no difference, even between himself, the Christian, and 
those who had slandered them, showing that all men, both Jew 
and Gentile, were concluded under sin, in the estimation of 
God ; his remarks are as follows : " What then ? are we better 
than they 1 (by nature) No ! in no wise : for we have before 
proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As 
it is written : There is none righteous ; (naturally) no, not 



27S HISTORY OF TriE FALLEN 

one :" — as we understand him, since the fall in Adam. « There 
is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 
They are all (the whole human family) gone out of the way ; 
(in the fall) they are together become unprofitable : there is none 
that doeth good ; (by nature) no, not one. 

The same doctrine is taught by the same Apostle, in another 
place, namely, Romans, viii. 7, 8 — " The carnal mind is enmity 
against God ; (since the fall, as a carnal mind did not exist be- 
fore) for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be ;" as its very nature is the exact opposite to all virtue. " So 
then they that are in the flesh, (that is, such as are not born 
again) cannot please God." And to show that St. Paul means 
such persons of the human race, by the terms, — '•'-they that are 
in the flesh? as are not born again : we notice what he says 
respecting believers: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the 
spirit, if "so be the spirit of God dwell in you :" and yet the very 
persons who he says were not in the flesh, were mortal men, just 
such as himself was, and every body else, living by eating and 
drinking, according to the common course of nature. So that 
the case is clear, that St. Paul believed in the depravity of the 
soul, heart, and spirit of man. even before actions are put forth, 
or he could not have made the distinction he has. 

He, St. Paul, Ions: after the writing of his Epistle to the Ro- 
many did not forget to put the church in mind of this fact, 
namely, of the utter depravity of the race of man ; which to 
prove, see 2d Cor. iii. 5 — "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves 
to think any thing, (good) as of ourselves, but our sufficiency 
is of God :" — not relying on the cripple, depraved, and corrupt 
energies of human nature — since the fall — for the least aid in 
coming to God, or in partaking of his likeness in holiness, and 
peace of mind. 

He has said the same thing in his writings to the Eph. ii. 1, 
2, 3, confessing the helpless depravity of all mankind by nature 
since the fell ; including himself, with the whole multitude of 
the disciples in every place, and admitting that himself, with all 
Che rest, were, previous to their conversion to Christianity, and 
change of their hearts, exposed to the wrath of God. The man- 
ner in which he has expressed his belief in this doctrine, is as 
follows : "And you hath he quickened who were dead in tres- 
passes and in sins. Wherein in time past, ye walked according 
to the course of this world, according to the power of the prince 
of the air, the spirit, that noxo worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience. Among whom toe also all had our conversation in 
times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the 
flesh and of the (depraved) mind, and were by nature (after 
the fall) the children of wrath, even as others." 

This doctrine of the entire depravity of the nature of man, 
abstracted from the assisting grace of God, is shown from the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIFTCREB. 279 

statement of Christ, which is direct to the point, the same with all 
the quotations above cited, and brought to bear on this subject : 
see Mark, viii. from 21 to 23 — « For from within, out of the heart 
of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, 
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil 
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from 
within." It would appear as useless to add more evidence of the 
horrible fact of man's inherent and natural depravity, from the 
Scriptures ; as the number already brought to notice are suffi- 
cient to convince any man of its truth, except such as have deter- 
mined not to believe it, however well it may be substantiated. 
Reason and matter of fact, loudly responds to this truth ; for how 
is it possible to conceive of depraved conduct, which Universal- 
ists contend is all, except the hearty the soul, or mind is first 
affected by it. Were there no fountains of water within the earth, 
there could arise no running streams ; were there no vegetative 
powers in the ground, which act on the seeds of all trees when 
buried in it, there could arise neither bramble nor forest, blade, 
nor harvest ; so also, were there not a depraved spirit within 
the heart of man, there could arise no depravity of conduct. 

If, therefore, we have proven the natural depravity of our na- 
ture, we will return to our first argument respecting Christ and 
say, if Christ was but a mere man, and had a natural father, as 
Universalists contend, then it is not possible to clear him from 
having been as depraved a being as any other individual of the 
human family at heart, although he did not sin actually: for 
depravity at heart, or hi nature, makes out a corrupted being, 
even though that corruption is supposed to have been restrained 
from actual rebellion against God and his holy law. 

Now as all Scripture and reason go to clear Christ from both 
sorts of depravity, whether of the heart or of life, it follows of 
necessity, that some being distinct from that of himself did tempt 
or try him, iii the wildrneess, as stated by the three evangelists^ 
Matthew, Mark, and Luke ; which proves the real being of the* 
devil, Universalists, their preaching and writings to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 



Further Proofs of the Being of Satan, as found in the New 
Testament, of the End of the World, fyc. 

To make it appear that Satan is any thing but that which the 
Scriptures most evidently assert he is, Universalists make a bold, 
and free use of Matth. xvi. 22, 23 ; in which it is stated, as they 
suppose, that Christ called St. Peter, Satan, and if so, they seem 



2S0 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

to think they prove, that a man may be a Satan. The account 
by St. Matthew is as follows : " From that time forth began 
Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go to Jerusa- 
lem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests, and 
scribes, and be killed. Then Peter took him, and began to re- 
buke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord ; this shall not be 
unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind 
me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto me : for thou savorest not 
the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Doct. Adam 
Clarke, who was a skilful scholar in both the Hebrew and the 
Greek, as well as in many other languages, more in number than 
was ever acquired by any other man, says the words in the He- 
brew are, get thee behind me, thou adversary. The question 
here to be decided is, whether our Lord did actually call Peter a 
Satan, when he knew in his heart that Peter meant to be his 
friend in the most ardent sense of the word. The language he 
used on that occasion was nearly similar to that used by him at 
another time, namely, at a time when Satan tried our Saviour in 
the wilderness, an account of which has just been given. The 
words in that place are, "get thee hence Satan." But in the 
case now under consideration, the words are, " get thee behind 
me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me." 

We do not perceive that the Saviour, in this case, called Peter 
Satan, or adversary, and the text does not say he did. The 
reader will please to notice the peculiar form and turn of the 
words the Saviour made use of at that time ; which were, "But 
he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me Satan." It 
does not read that he turned and called Peter Satan, but that he 
only said unto Peter, &c. Thus we understand it, the Saviour 
turned and said to Peter that Satan was an offence unto him, 
inasmuch as thtit evil spirit was the author of that thought which 
Peter had just then unwittingly uttered, namely, that Christ 
must not die, as he had just said must be his fate, shortly, at Je- 
rusalem. It appears to us in this way : that Jesus turned, and 
looking at Peter, engaged his attention while he said " get thee 
behind me, Satan ; by which Peter did not understand that 
himself 'was meant, or that he called him Satan, in the primary 
sense of the word, but merely felt himself reproved for uttering 
sentiments which he in his heart imagined to be right and pro- 
per, as he did not then comprehend the necessity of his Master's 
death for the world ; but at the same time was made to feel that 
what he had said was in exact accordance with all that Satan 
could have wished might not take place. Our Lord, by virtue 
of his omniscience, saw Satan taking advantage of Peter's tender 
feelings, and love of his great teacher, and that he suggested to 
his mind the propriety of his dissuading the Lord from subject- 
ing himself to death ; which advice went exactly against the per- 
fecting of his great design, which was the redemption of the 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 281 

world by the sacrifice of himself on the cross ; he therefore said 
unto Satan, " get thee behind me, thou savorest not the things 
that be of God." This care and sympathy of Peter for his 
master, was not in itself wrong ; but as it blinded him from per- 
ceiving, that for this very purpose, namely, the suffering of death, 
Christ came into the world ; he needed to be corrected, as we 
find he was, and Satan rebuked for his wickedness, in mislead- 
ing the well meaning mind of Peter. It is impossible to accuse 
Peter of being the malicious author of that thought, unless we 
can believe he was under standingly an enemy to the plan of the 
atonement, by the death of Christ, and had of set purpose deter- 
mined to dissuade him from such a determination. And there- 
fore, as the malice against God's promise, namely, that the seed 
of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and also against 
the human race in trying to prevent the atonement, was not 
knowingly Peter's ; our Lord, therefore, as a discerner of spirits, 
addressed his reproof where it chiefly belonged, namely, to Satan, 
as to the prime and moving cause of St. Peter's remarks. Now, 
if the Saviour meant Peter, and him solely, when he said, " get 
thee behind me Satan? we find Peter did not so understand 
him ; for instead of getting behind him, or of departing from his 
presence, as was the import of the words, he still remained with 
his master, sharing the confidence of him who had called him to 
he an apostle and a minister of his word, and even honored him, a 
few days after, by allowing him to be present with him, in 
company with two others of his disciples, on the mount of his 
transfiguration. The reproof, however, was no doubt given in 
the following sense : Peter, that thought of thine is of the devil ; 
beware how you give it place in your mind, as it savors not of 
God, it is of earth, mere earthly selfishness ; cast it from thee, 
and know, that for this very purpose, to die for the offences of 
man on the cross of the Romans, am I come forth, which your 
well meant tenderness directly opposes, and agrees exactly with 
the desires of Satan, the great enemy of mankind. 

That the Jews in our Saviour's time, believed in the being of 
a Satan, as a bad, or fallen angel, we prove from their accusations 
against our Lord ; which was, that he cast out devils by the 
aid of the prince of devils ; see Matth. ix. 33, 34 — " And when 
the devil was cast out, the dumb spake, and the multitudes mar* 
veled, saying, it was never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees 
said, he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils." 
Also, in Matth. xii. 24, and Mark, iii. 22, the same charge was 
preferred against him, namely, that he cast out devils by the 
power of the prince of the devils ; setting forth that he was at 
most nothing more than an accomplished magician. But what 
said Jesus to this charge ? why. that " if Satan cast out Satan he 
is divided against himself, how then shall his kingdom stand. 
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your chil- 

18 



282 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

dren (or disciples) cast them out, therefore they shall be your 
judges. But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then is the 
kingdom of God come nigh unto you." In this reply we per- 
ceive that the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God, are 
both declared to exist ; and if one is a fiction, on a mere idea, 
why not both ? and the heads of these two kingdoms equally 
fictious. If a belief in the existence of Satan, and of devils, as 
real beings, was an error in the time of our Saviour, in the the- 
ology of the Jews, then did our Lord omit to correct that error ; 
leaving the people uninformed on this subject, and never insruct- 
ed his disciples to correct it. We therefore consider the point as 
settled and established by unavoidable inference, the most satis- 
factory, except to those who have made up their wills not to 
believe this thing, however clearly it may be proved from the 
Bible, and such there are in great abundance. 

But if inference on this subject is not esteemed as sufficient 
evidence to prove this belief, we should imagine that express 
Scripture is, and that Scripture, the very word of the Son of 
God, who certainly knew whether there is a Satan, and evil 
spirits, or not, as real beings. See Matth. xiii. from verse 24 to 
30, inclusive. " The kingdom of heaven-is likened unto a man 
which sowed good seed in his field : But while men slept, his 
enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his 
way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth 
fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the house- 
holder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good 
seed in thy field ? from whence then hath it tares 1 He said 
unto them, An enemy hath done this." But we ask, who was 
that enemy? Who sowed the tares ? See verse 39 of the same 
chapter ; where it is said, that it was the devil. But on the 
plan of the Universalist doctrine, which is, that the evil passions 
and lusts of the soul, are the only devil there is, and that it was 
this, which the Saviour said was the enemy who sowed the 
tares ; it will then follow, that the tares are the very evil passions, 
and devil, or enemy spoken of in the text, and that they sowed 
themselves in human nature ; which thing, it is impossible to 
have any consistent conception of. But if the tares did not sow 
themselves in human nature — which they could not have done, 
— then, as man is held by Universalists, to be in the condition in 
which God created him in Adam and Eve, — it follows that God 
was that enemy who had sowed the tares in the field of human 
nature, if they were sowed at all ; and that he sowed them for the 
best and wisest of purposes, namely, for the great good of the 
great whole. But if God sowed them, it follows that they are 
not tares ; for whatsoever he does, is right, and in and of itself, 
intrinsically holy ; and destroys the idea of the existence of tares 
at all, in the field of human nature, as he cannot create a sinner. 
But in relation to the parable, consisting of the field, the hus- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 283 

bandman who sowed the good seed, and of the good seed itself, 
with the tares, the reapers, the barn into which the wheat was 
to be gathered, and the fire which was to burn the tares at the 
end of the world, were all, as it appears, brought forward in the 
form of a parable, which even the disciples did not understand, 
as shown on verse 36, of the same chapter. On which account, 
after the Saviour had finished his discourse to the multitude, and 
had retired into a house near by, his disciples said unto him, — 
" Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field." To 
which the Saviour replied. " He that soweth the good seed is 
the Son of man: (meaning himself ) The field is the icorld: 
(not Judea alone) the good seed are the children of the kingdom : 
but the tares are the children of the wicked one : The enemy 
that sowed them is the devil : the harvest is the end of the world : 
(mundane system) and the reapers are the angels (of heaven.) 
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall 
it be in the end of the world," (not of Judea alone) but when time 
shall be no longer. Now this exposition of the parable, by the 
author of it — the Saviour himself — who certainly understood his 
own meaning, makes it clear that there is a devil, or Satan, who 
is capable of corrupting the minds of men, in catching away the 
good impressions, which by any means are made upon the heart. 
That he is capable of doing this, if not resisted by the soul in 
holy prayer ; we prove from Luke, viii. 12 — the influence of the 
devil, as follows : " Then cometh the devil, and taketh away 
the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be 
saved." But if there is no devil who has a distinct being, then, 
as it appears to us, the language of Jesus Christ was wrong ; 
for he has pointed out a being, and given him a name, a person, 
and identity, as plainly as language can speak, and has shown 
him to be his enemy, in catching away the seed out of men's 
hearts, which himself had sown. He should, however, rather 
have told them, that there was no devil but themselves, who were 
their worst and only enemies. But instead of this, he taught an 
entire contrary doctrine, by telling the Jews, and all who heard 
him, that it was the devil who came, and caught away the seed 
out of their hearts, because men did not resist him ; as is shown 
by other parts of the New Testament, to be theirs, and all men's 
privilege. 

Mr. Ballou, an apostle of the Universalist order, in his book 
on the parables of the New Testament, gives us no account of 
this enemy in that parable, who sowed the tares in God's field, 
called the world, and seems to be somewhat averse to med- 
dle with him at all, and throughout the whole work, treats him 
but indifferently. This, he should iM have omitted, as that 
something called a devil, and Satan, appears to have been in 
those days, at any rate, the prime enemy of ail righteousness, and 
great opposer of Jesus Christ, in the establishment 01 his spir- 



284 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



itual kingdom among men ; and so much so, that he is everywhere 
alluded to in the New Testament as an enemy. 

A little above, the reader may recollect, that on the subject of 
the tares, it is said they are to be gathered and burned in the 
fire, at the end of the world, as men burn tares gathered from 
among the wheat when harvesting. Perhaps in this place it 
will be well to enquire, what world is meant, at the end of which, 
it is said the tares are to be burnt ? whether the end of the Jew- 
ish polity, as a nation, or the end of this mundane system, the 
globe, or the end of time, as it is well known that Universalists 
believe the former ? In this enquiry, we shall no doubt do well 
if we can explain Scripture by Scripture, so as to find out what 
world is meant, that was to have an end. On this point, see the 
following quotations: Romans, v. 12, "Wherefore as by one 
man sin entered into the world." Is more than Judea meant 
here by the word world, think ye ? Romans, v. 13, " For until 
the law (of Moses) sin was in the world." Was Judea alone 
that world in which sin was found, till the law was given by 
Moses ? We think not ; as Judea, previous to the law, was 
unknown, as also the Jewish nation, by that particular name. 
Romans, x. 18, " But I say, have they not heard? yes 
verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words 
unto the ends of the world? In this quotation we find both the 
word earth and world used as synonomous, and means more 
than Judea; for the apostle was declaring to the Romans that a 
rumor of salvation by Christ, had gone into all the world, even 
to the ends of the earth, or entirely around it, among all nations. 
Mark, viii. 36, " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
world and loose his own soul." The word world, in this place, 
no doubt means more than the land of Judea, even the whole 
earth. The same is said by Luke, ix. 25, " For what is a man 
advantaged if he gain the whole world and loose himself, or be 
a cast away." This word world, is used by St. Mark, xiv. 9, in 
a sense which at once is plain, that he meant the whole earth, as 
follows : " Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall 
be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath 
done (a certain woman) shall be spoken of, for a memorial of 
her." Also, St. John's Gospel, chap. i. 10, the whole earth is 
comprehended by the word world: "He (Christ) was in the 
world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew 
him not." Also, St. Paul uses the word in this sense, as com- 
prehending the whole earth ; see Acts, xvii. 24, " God that made 
the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of hea- 
ven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." 
Again, St. John, iii. 16, uses the word in a sense which embraces 
the whole world, instead of the land of Judea only : « For God 
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever belie veth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. . 285 

life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the 
world, but that the world through him might be saved." Also, 
the same writer, namely, St. John, chap. iv. 42, has used the 
word in a sense which embraces not only Judea, but all the 
world : " Now we believe, (said the Samaritans to the woman,) 
net because of thy saying, (alone,) for we have heard him our- 
selves, and knoxo that this is indeed the Christ, the (conditional) 
Saviour of the world? Again, 1st John, iv. 14, " We have seen 
and do testify, that the Father. sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
the world," (conditionally.) John, xvi. 33, " In the world ye 
shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have overcome 
the world." Was it in Judea only that Christians were to have 
tribulation ? and was it Judea only that he meant, when he said 
>to his disciples, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world ? 
We think not. 1st John, ii. 2, "And he (Christ) is the propitia- 
tion for our sins : and not for our sins only, but also for the sins 
of the whole world? Does this mean Judea only, and not the 
whole of mankind ? St. John, xii. 46, "I came a light into the 
world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in dark- 
ness." Was it Judea alone that he came to enlighten? We 
think even a Universalist will not admit this, though he loose in 
that respect, the restricting of the word world to the little country 
of Judea. 

We will now repeat the text, which we are attempting to ex- 
plain by all the foregoing quotations, respecting the word world, 
as follows : u As therefore the tares are gathered and burned 
in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world? Now as we 
have shown that the word world, in a multitude of places as 
used in the New Testament, cannot be restricted to the mere 
country of Judea, why, therefore, should it be restricted in that 
one text, except it be to answer the Universalists a particular 
purpose, in making out that the end of the world, so often spoken 
of, was to be the end of the Jewish nation only ? which it cannot 
be made to do except by violence. It is no where said in the 
New Testament, that the end of the Jewish nation, as a people, 
or ecclesiastical body, was to be the end of the world. It is no 
where said in the New Testament, that Judea was a world, and 
that the destruction of that people was considered as the end of 
the world. Could it be found any where in the Bible that their 
country was called the Jewish world, there would then be some 
countenance for the Universalist opinion about the end of that 
world, and no other. Why should they be thus distinguished, 
any more than other nations round about them, who were greater 
than they ? That an end of the world of mankind, and the earth 
itself, is to come, is shown even by Universalists themselves, inas- 
much as they believe most strongly in a general resurrection of 
all the dead of the human race, at a given time or period. Now 
this being so, it will follow that the earth is to be bereft of its 



286 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

inhabitants, and will be of no further use to our race ; why 
not thersfore allow that time to be the end of the world, so often 
spoken of in the New Testament ? and why not allow that it 
may be burnt up, as St. Peter has declared it shall be ? But 
no doubt Universalists will reply that St. Peter has said no such 
thing. Perhaps it were well just to look and see, how this is. 
2 Peter, iii. 6, 7, as follows : " Whereby the world, (not Judea,) 
that then was being overflowed with water, (which was Noah's 
flood) perished. But the heavens and the earth, which now by 
the same word (or power) are kept in store and reserved unto fire 
against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 
Now this is the day or end of the world, which to us appears to 
be alluded to by our Lord, when expounding on the subject of 
the tares to his disciples, he said so it shall be in the end of the 
world, namely, that of the wicked, which he shows to be tares, 
and shall be cast into a hell of unquenchable fire. Does not the 
similitude used by the Saviour to illustrate this case, fairly come 
to this conclusion, namely, that as men, after threshing the wheat 
of the harvest from the chaff and straw, burn the latter with fire ? 
So God will do at the end of the world, or harvest of the judg- 
ment ; separating the wheat — the saints — from among the chaff, 
which denotes the wicked ; then cast the latter into unquencha- 
ble fire, as the text reads. But Mr. Ballou seems to think, as do 
all Universalists, that as chaff is necessary to the growth and 
protection of the wheat, that the sins of the human race are 
necessary for the perfcti?ig of the saints ; and that when sin 
shall have answered this good and wise purpose, it shall then be 
destroyed by the unquenchable fire of the Holy Ghost ; and thus 
all the human race, especially the bad, will turn out to be wheat 
of the first order, to be gathered into the garner of God Almighty 
in heaven. 

But the text respecting the tares, will not bear this construction, 
because it plainly says the tares are the children of the wicked 
one — not the sins of the wicked one, but his children — meaning 
sinners — not the sins of the wicked, separately considered from 
the sinner, but the sinner himself, is that child of the wicked one, 
and is in the text called a tare, or base weed, injurious to the 
wheat, and fit only to be destroyed in hell, as the text reads. 

This fire which is said to be unquenchable destruction in the 
text, and in other texts to be hell fire, Universalists say is the 
grace or love of God ; or in other words is the purifying of the 
Holy Ghost on the soul of man, and is the only fire that they 
know of which is unquenchable. Can it be so ? then it must 
follow, that the vengeance of that eternal fire which St. Jude 
says the Sodomites are now suffering, is the fire of the Holy 
Ghost. Is this true ? if ^o, then there follows another curiovs 
result — which is, that to be purified from sin by the fire of the 
Holy Ghost, is a state of inexpressible suffering, and that without 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 287 

end ; for St. Jude is particular in stating, that the Sodomites are 
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. We have always sup- 
posed that religion makes the soul happy; but we are here 
instructed by Universalists, that it is a state of suffering — unut- 
terable suffering — and that to all eternity ; for they contend that 
the fire of the Holy Ghost is the only eternal, or unquenchable 
fire they know of in existence, the power of which the Sodomites 
are now suffering. 

But if the Universalists persist in the idea that the destruction 
of Jerusalem, and the enslaving of the Jews who escaped the 
great massacre by the Romans, was that fire into which the 
wicked Jews or tares were actually cast and burnt, we have only 
to reply, that the Christians who escaped, fared no better ; as 
they became almost immediately the objects of a universal per- 
secution, which lasted nearly three hundred years, during 
which time several millions lost their lives by all manner of tor- 
tures ; which hell, therefore, if it is all to be confined to this 
life, was the worst ?• We answer, that the Christian's hell, by 
ten thousand per cent ; as it cannot be shown that the Jews 
fared any worse than other prisoners of war, after the war had 
ended ; while the horrors and distresses of the persecuted Chris- 
tians, had scarcely any intermission for nearly three hundred 
years — so that the good seed was cast into a worse fire than even 
the tares, on that 'plan of interpretation ; and cannot therefore, be 
the true one alluded to by our Lord, in which the tares are to be 
burnt at the end of the world. 



The Subject of Rewards and Punishments, whether in this 
Life, or in another: that Mankind are to be dealt with 
according to Character — examined. A Guilty Conscience 
suffering examined, as supposed to take Place in this 
Life for Sin — with many other curious Subjects. 

If there is neither reward for virtue, nor punishment for vice, 
in another world, but both qualities receive their dues here — as 
taught by Universalists — why did St. Paul (1st Cor. xv. 19,) 
state, that if in this life only, the Christian has hope in Christ, that 
of all men they are the most miserable? As to the permanency, 
and certainty of happiness after death, Universalists tell us, that 
St. Paul, who spent his life in propagating Christianity, after his 
conversion, and finally suffered martyrdom at Rome, on that 
account ; and Voltaire, who was an Atheist, and opposed Chris- 
tianity all his life, even till old age, are equally interested, and 



288 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

equally certain — their characters making no difference at all, as 
to that matter. Now according to that sentiment, a hope of 
heaven after death, can be no reason why a man should be vir- 
tuous here, and suffer for virtue's cause; as that happy state 
after death, can neither be put in jeopardy, nor made surer on 
any such account, and is not looked to as a. result of a well spent 
life, according to Universalists. 

But we are sure this sentiment is contrary to Bible truth ; 
which we prove by the following quotations. (2d Tim. iv. 8.) 
rt Henceforth," says St. Paul, " there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give 
me at that day ; and not me only, but unto all them also, that 
love his appearing." Now as St. Paul was in prison at Rome, 
when he wrote this Epistle, out of which this quotation is taken, 
and was shortly after put to death by the order of Nero, we are 
sure that this crown of righteousnesss, of which he speaks, and 
says was laid up, or was in readiness for him, was not in this life, 
but awaited him after death. Could Voltaire have said as much, 
and rejoiced at his death, as did St. Paul, who when in hourly 
expectation of being put to death, said triumphantly, " I am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith : Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
eousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at 
that day? Of Voltaire, it is said that he died in horrors unut- 
terable ; but of Paul, that he rejoiced exceedingly. What made 
the difference ? We answer : their different expectations after 
death made the difference. What else could ? What a pity 
some wise Universalist had not stood by St. Paul to have checked 
a little the exuberance of his joy, by just stating to him that his 
goodness, his virtue, nor his having kept the faith, nor his having 
fought a good fight, could possibly make any difference with 
him after death ; as heaven, and heavenly joys, were not made 
surer by any thing a man, by the grace of God, can do in this 
life ; and that there is no such thing as rewards in heaven for the 
righteous, more than for the wicked. What a pity some wise 
Universalists had not stood by the raving Voltaire, as he lay on 
his dying pillow, to have comforted him with assurances of hap- 
piness after death ; and that his wicked life, which had been 
spent in opposition to Jesus Christ, in ridicule of his name, of his 
birth, and of his Gospel, — calling him an illegitimate, and his 
mother a prostitute, could make no possible difference in another 
world, as God has arranged matters in such a way, that a man's 
character cannot disqualify him for the enjoyments of happiness 
in heaven. 

From St. Paul's peculiar manner of speaking about the crown 
which he expected to receive, we perceive that he had it not at 
the time in which he was writing about it to Timothy, but was to 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 289 

receive it at a certain time, or day ; as he says — " which the 
righteous Judge shall give me at that day? But, says a Uni- 
versalist, I can tell you what day he meant easily enough ! 
Well, we wish to know ! Why, it was, no doubt, the day on 
which he was to be put to death ; and the crown, was the crown 
of martyrdom. Well done ! Was that the crown which was 
laid up for him by the righteous Judge ? O yes ; most certainly ! 
Well then, who was this Judge, who adjudged him to die a mar- 
tyr ? Was it God, — or Nero, the cruel and wicked Emperor ? 
If you say it was God, — why then, the murder of St. Paul was 
right, as God can do nothing wrong ? But if it was Nero, we 
then arrive at a certainty, that the Judge who was to give Paul 
his crown, was God, and that Nero was a wicked judge ; because 
he says : which God, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that 
day ; and proves that day, was not the day of his death, nor that 
crown, the crown of martyrdom ; as the putting to death of Paul, 
for the sake of his religion, could never be called a righteous act ; 
and therefore, if martyrdom be called a crown, yet it was not that 
ctoxon of righteousness, which the righteous Judge had in 
reversion for Paul ; and of necessity, extends the matter beyond 
this life, to arrive at the crown spoken of; and therefore amounts 
to a reward, which is the favor of God, to be bestowed in heaven, 
on account of the merits of Christ. 

But St. Paul says that such a crown was to be given, not to 
him only, but to all them also, that love Christ's appearing. Now 
if the crown there spoken of, which was promised to all the dis- 
ciples of Christ, was a crown of martyrdom, it then follows that 
all disciples must die violent deaths, or must die martyrs, which 
is by no means the fact ; and if this is not a fact, then is St. Paul 
mistaken ; unless this crown of righteousness is to be had after 
death, and is to be given them in consequence of loving Jesus 
Christ, and looking for his appearing at that day — the day of 
final and general judgment. And that there is to be such a day, 
we further prove from Acts, xvii. 31 — " Because he (God) hath 
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in right- 
eousness, by that man whom he hath ordained." But what man 
was that, who was thus ordained to judge the world in right- 
eousness ? Was it Titus, the Roman emperor, — and was that 
world Jerusalem, which was to be thus judged ? We think not ; 
because St. Paul says that God hath given assurance of this 
thing, the judgment, unto all men, in that he hath raised him, 
Christ from the dead. Therefore it was not Titus ; as he was 
never raised from the dead : and if Titus was not the man who 
was ordained to judge the world, then it was not Jerusalem 
which is alluded to in the text of Acts, xvii. 31 ; as it was Titus 
who destroyed that city and nation : but Jesus Christ who shall 
judge the world in righteousness at the last day. That there is 
to be a last day, we show from what Martha said to the Saviour 



290 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

on the occasion of the death of her brother Lazarus. Jolin xi. 24. 
" Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again, in the 
resurrection, at the last day? 1 Also John, xii. 48. — " He that 
rejecteth me, (Jesus Christ) and receiveth not my words, hath 
one that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, the same 
shall judge him at the last day? John vi. 39, it is said : " And 
this is the Father's will who hath sent me, that of all which he 
hath given me, I should lose nothing ; but should raise it up at 
the last day. Also in the same chapter, verses 40 and 44, the 
same thing is repeated ; — " And this is the will of him that sent 
me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, 
may have everlasting life : and I will raise him up at the last 
day? No man can come to me, except the Father who hath 
sent me draw him : and I will raise him up at the last day? 

From these examples of Scripture on the subject of a last day, 
we conclude that this last day is the one on which St. Paul says 
God would give him a crown of righteousness, namely, at the 
time of the general and final judgment after the resurrection of 
the just, or time of the first resurrection, which idea — that of a 
first resurrection — is taught by St. Paul himself: (1 Cor. iv. 16.) 
" For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first? And if any one wishes 
to know how long first, — our answer is : a thousand years ; du- 
ring which period will be the millenium. And if they wish the 
proof of this, please look at Rev. xx. 4, 5 : " And I saw thrones, 
and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them : 
and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness 
of Jesus, and for the wojd of God, and which had not worship- 
ped the beast, neither his image, neither had receieved his mark 
upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and 
reigned with Christ a thousand years? But the rest of the 
dead, (the wicked dead,) lived not again until the thousand 
years were finished." That will be the day, the time, and the 
moment after the first resurrection, when Paul will receive that 
crown of righteousness, with al] them that love, and look for the 
appearing of the great God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, or, as Uni- 
versalists will have it — a mere man ; (Titus ii. 13,) which will 
not be in this life, but that which is to come. 

But is this Scripture, as above presented and argued, the only 
one which proves the doctrine of rewards for the righteous in 
eternity ? We believe not. See Matth. v. 12 : " Rejoice and 
be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so 
persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Also in 
Luke vi. 23 : " Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy ; for 
behold your reward is great in heaven : for in like manner did 
their fathers unto the prophets." See Collossians, iii. 24 : "And 
whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 291 

men : knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of 
the inheritance." Now what inheritance is this spoken of here ? 
We answer : it is heaven ; as the Christians at that time had all 
they could have on earth of religious happiness, because of their 
faith in Christ. But as the Apostle speaks of an inheritance 
which was future, and which he called a reward, it follows of 
necessity that the reward alluded to, was not to be arrived at till 
after death, in the kingdom of heaven. This hope of future 
reward, was all that upheld the Christian church at that, or any 
other age : but especially at that period of distress and persecu- 
tion. Without this hope, — who, in those ages, would have em- 
braced Christianity, when they knew that with it, they must 
embrace shame, contempt, poverty, persecution and death ? But 
had they have known the advantages of Universalist opinions, 
namely, that heaven, and the rewards of heaven, were just as 
sure to the wicked, and to their persecutors, as to themselves, 
they would have spurned it as a useless system, upon the great 
whole, and never would have embraced it at all. Where is the 
man now to be found among the Universalist ranks, who would 
go to the fiery stake for his opinions, — looking to the recompense 
of reward after death 7 Such a character cannot be found ; be- 
cause they believe that both the good and the bad are to be happy 
alike, in another world, independent of character. 

St. Paul in his book to the Hebrews, chap. x. 34, 35, has 
taught the same doctrine, — that of rewards in Jesus Christ, in 
heaven after death, as follows : " For ye had compassion of me, 
in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, know- 
ing ye have in heaven, a better, and an enduring substance. 
Cast not away, therefore your confidence, which hath great re- 
compense of reward" (in heaven.) 

Now if there is no such thing as rewarding religious virtue 
in heaven, where then, was those disciples who had been des- 
poiled of all their earthly goods, to receive this great recompense 
of reward, of which St. Paul speaks, by way of comforting them in 
the midst of their sorrows ? If it be said — as Universalists will 
say — why it was in their own minds, just at that very time, 
then it will follow, that the Apostle's opinion, expressed as fol- 
lows, was of little worth : " For ye have need of patience, that 
after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." 
If they were every instant receiving that recompense, then at that 
very time, why have need of patience, as if something more was 
in expectation, called a reward, or recompense ? 

This sentiment is taught by St. John, the Revelator, chap. xi. 
18. " And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and 
the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou 
shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the 
saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great : and 
should destroy them which destroyed the earth." 



292 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

In this verse, all the prophets who were dead hundreds of years 
before the time of St. John, with all the saints in their times, as 
well as the times of the apostles themselves, and thereafter to the 
time of the general resurrection or last day, are here shown to 
be in expectation of that reward. It is impossible to interpret 
this verse in any other way than that of a reward to be given, 
not claimed as of debt, at the resurrection of the just, on account 
of the ancient prophets being named among the rest, who were 
then dead ; and that the time to reward them in the view of the 
Revelator was in prospect, and yet to come. The same Apostle, 
in another place, gives the same idea, though in different words 
— ehap. xxii. 12 — " Behold I come quickly ; and my reward is 
with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." 
Now, as St. John the Revelator, did not write his book of Reve- 
lations till about twenty six years after the destruction of the 
city, and temple, and nation of the Jews, which took place 
August 10, in the year of our Lord 70 — it follows that all he 
has said of a day and time of judgment, besides the text we are 
now considering, that it is impossible to interpret that text of the 
destruction of Jerusalem, the favorite day of judgment of the 
Universalis, unless he prophesied backwards. And even could 
it be shown that the book of Revelation was written before the 
overthrow of that city, yet the text could have no allusion to that 
catastrophe ; because the dead did not rise then, nor were the 
dead judged, nor were the prophets rewarded, nor the saints, 
and all them that fear God, both small and great, who had suffered 
and been put to death for the truth's sake, before St. John's time, 
as well as after ; for his form of speech in this verse comprehends 
all time, the whole age of the earth till the end. The same doc- 
trine is taught, as we apprehend, by our Lord, in Matth. xvi. 27, 
though strongly contended to the contrary by Universalists. The 
text reads thus : " For the Son of man shall come in the glory of 
his father, with his angels ; and then he shall reward every man 
according to his works." Now what is the glory of the father, 
in that text ? was it the pomp and martial array of a man ; 
Titus, the Roman emperor, and his fellow worms, his soldiery, 
accompanied with somewhat of a noise, which possibly might 
have been heard two miles at the farthest 1 Was every man 
then rewarded according to his works ? There is no evidence 
that any were so rewarded, in the moral sense of the word ; nor 
is there any evidence that even one of the angels of the Father 
was seen at the siege of Jerusalem. Or if we say those angels 
may have meant the Apostles, and first preachers of the cross, 
yet none of these were there, as they were all dead except St. 
John the Revelator, and he extremely old, and far away from 
the environs of that city at the time of its investment by the Ro- 
mans ; so that in no sense perceivable, can it be said, that the 
destruction of Jerusalem was the time meant by our Saviour in 



ANGELS Or THE SCRIPTURES. 293 

the text. As to the idea of the glory of the Father, in which 
Christ said he was to come, see Daniel, vii. 9, 10: "I beheld 
till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit ; 
whose garments were white as snow, and the hair of his head 
like the pure wool ; his throne was like the fiery rime, and his 
wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth 
from before him ; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and 
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : the judg- 
ment was set, and the books were opened." There was nothing 
like this seen at the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans ; Christ 
was not seen, nor any of the angelic hosts ; how then can the 
text we are now considering, describe any thing more or less, 
than the day of the final judgment o'f the human race, and end 
of the world. That this was the meaning of the Saviour, see 
what he said to the high priest, who examined him at the time 
of his trial, the evening before he was crucified ; when that high 
priest asked him, and adjured him by the living God, to say 
whether he was the Son of God or not. To which he answered, 
" thou hast said ;" which was as much as to say, / am ; and so 
the high priest understood him. But to this he added, as he 
still replied to the high priest, " Hereafter shall ye see the Son of 
man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the 
clouds of heaven." If, therefore, this means his coming, as Uni- 
versalists say it does, namely, to destroy the Jews by the Roman 
sword, then he should have been seen sitting at the right hand of 
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven, at that time. 

But in further proof of the real coming of Christ to our earth, 
in a manner which has not yet taken place, see Acts, i. 11, 
" This same Jesus , which is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into hea- 
ven." But for what purpose is he to come ? Why, to raise the 
righteous dead, and to destroy the wicked who may be then on 
the earth, and to restore the world for a thousand years to a con- 
dition of moral rectitude ; and at the end of that time he is to 
raise the wicked dead, and to judge the world in righteousness, 
and to give to every man as his work shall be. 

There are many passages in the Scriptures, from which this 
doctrine, that of rewards in heaven for the righteous, is inferred, 
and several of which assert that it is positively so, as already 
quoted. But we shall give one more example of the kind, before 
we leave the subject : Mark, x. 28, 29, 30—" Then Peter began 
to say unto him, (the Saviour,) Lo, we have left all and have 
followed thee, what shall we have therefore ?" Matth. xix. 27, 
*< And Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you, there is 
no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or 
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gos- 
pel's, but he shall receive an hundred fold, now in this time, 
houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and 



294 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

lands, with persecution : and in the world to come, eternal life" 
But St. Luke states it, " in this present time? (or life,) chap, 
xviii. 30, " and in the world to come, life everlasting." From 
these two places — Mark, x. 30, and Luke, xviii. 30 — we see that 
the words eternal and everlasting are used in precisely the 
same sense, both meaning one thing, which is eternal life in 
eternity. But as to the fulfilment of the temporal part of the 
above promise, it is fulfilled in the benevolence the Gospel 
prompts in the hearts of Christians toward one another, and 
produces those fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, children, houses, 
lands, which are promised ; but at the end, eternal or everlast- 
ing life. 

These remarks of the Saviour to his disciples, as above recited, 
were occasioned, as we find — Matth. xix. 27 — by a question put 
by Peter to Jesus Christ ; and this is the question : " Then an- 
swered Peter and said unto him, behold, we have forsaken all 
and followed thee, what shall we have therefore ?" To this he 
answered as above, and promised them as a reward, for having 
forsaken all for his sake, eternal life in the world to come. But 
says a Universalist, the world to come there mentioned, meant 
the next age, or some other age which was to follow the time 
of the Saviour ; and that Christians all along the course of time, 
in every age, or in every world to come, should have this eternal 
life, and therefore did not mean after death, or in eternity. Were 
this a proper explanation of the promise, then it will follow, 
that the disciples to whom the promise was immediately made, 
never realised this promise for themselves, as they did not live 
to the time of the next age, or world to come. It is of no man- 
ner of force, if it is said that they then had this eternal life in 
them, because the promise had nothing to do with that present 
time, so far as it related to eternal life in them then; but 
extended to the world to come, and then was to be fulfilled or no 
where. And as the disciples to whom the promise was imme- 
diately made, did not live till the next age, as Universalists inter- 
pret, it follows of necessity that if these very disciples ever re- 
ceived the fulfilment of that promise, because they had forsaken 
all and followed Christ, that they must have received it after 
death, in the eternal world, as a reward for their love, and for 
proving that love, by forsaking; all for the sake of Christ and his 
gospel, which reward is God himself; as said to Abraham, Gen. 
xv. 1. " Fear not Abraham, lam thy shield and exceeding great 
reward." 

From a review of this subject, it is clear that the terms, — now 
in this present time, are set opposite to the terms world to come, in 
which eternal life, in its fullest sense, is to be conferred as a reward. 
But if eternal life, as Universalists hold, is the natural and un- 
alienable right of man, by virtue of the goodness of God, as a 
Creator, how can it be held out as an incitement to virtue, or as a 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 295 

reward to the righteous and be embraced in a promise in that light ? 
It is inconsistent and impossible. But from this Scripture, we see 
that eternal life in heaven, is the subject of promise to the disciple, 
to induce a belief and perseverance in Christ, with all the ben- 
efits of religion on earth. Who can deny this with impunity ? 
Yet this is denied (see Notes on the Parables) by Hosea Ballou ; 
who says, on the last page of that work : " Nor is it believed by 
your servant, that any passage (in the Bible,) can be found, 
which speaks of rewarding men for their good works, and of 
punishing others for their evil works, which can with the least 
color of propriety, be applied to the state of men, when this mor- 
tal shall have put on immortality, and this corruption incorrup- 
tion." This is strange work : as Mr. Ballou knew well at the 
moment he wrote the above opinion, that Christ had said to his 
disciples, (Matth. v. 12,) " Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for 
great is your reioard in heaven, for so persecuted they the 
prophets which were before you." And St. Luke, vi. 22, 23, 
says the same thing • " Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, 
and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall 
reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of 
man's sake ; rejoice ye in that day, for behold your reward is 
great in heaven? Surely the doctrine of rewards, and that in 
heaven, is taught in the foregoing, and could never be denied, 
except by such as are theologically mad. 

But if there is Scripture to prove that the righteous are to be 
rewarded in heaven as a consequence of the course they choose 
on earth, in Christ Jesus, so also is there Scripture to prove that 
the unrighteous are to be rewarded in hell, as a consequence of 
the course they chose on earth, in the error of their ways 5 out of 
Christ Jesus, and in default of all virtue ; and that both of these 
conditions are in the invisible world. To this effect see Matth. 
xxv, 31, 32, 41, 46. " When the Son of man shall come in his 
glory, and all his holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon 
the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all 
nations; and he shall separate them from one another, as a 
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set 
the sheep (the righteous) on his right hand, (approbation) but 
the goats (the wicked) on his left hand (rejection.) Then shall 
he say unto them on the left hand, (the rejected ones) depart 
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil 
and his angels. And these shall go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment ; but the righteous into life eternal." Here life eternal 
is placed as the opposite of everlasting punishment, and eonse- 
sequently one will as soon end as the other; for in the original 
Greek in this place, the same identical word, without any varia- 
tion, or shadow of difference, is used to express the unending 
nature and duration of both conditions, but were translated eter- 
nal and everlasting, merely to avoid a repetition of the same 



296 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

word so near each other, which any person can see, would not 
have read as well as it does* now, and by no means was intended 
to alter the sense. The word which is rendered eternal, is in 
the Hebrew, olam, and in the Greek, aion, and mean the same 
thing; which is, unending, ever-during, eternal, and is there- 
fore applied to the unending Being of God— to the human soul, 
and to the judgments of the Divine Being. 

No stickler of Universalist opinions, and particularly respecting 
a limited everlasting, as they seem to believe in, will deny, but 
the word when applied to the ever during being of God, is, in 
the fullest sense, eternal, as used in the case of Abraham ; who, 
when he had planted a grove, called upon the name of the ever- 
lasting God ; Gen. xxi. 33. The following quotations are of the 
same import, and equally direct to the point — Dan. vii. 18 — 
" But the saints of the Most High shail take the kingdom and 
possess it for ever, even forever and ever" xii. 2, 3, "And many 
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to 
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, 
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment ; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for 
ever and ever. Psalms cxii. 6. " The righteous shall be in ever- 
lasting remembrance." Isaiah ix. 6 — " and his name (Jesus 
Christ) shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, 
The Everlasting Father." — xxvi. 4. « Trust ye in the Lord for- 
ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Prov. 
viii. 23. " I (wisdom) was set up from everlasting." Rom. vi. 
22. " But now being made free from sin and become servants to 
God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting 
life." Gal. vi. 8. "For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the 
flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of 
the spirit reap life everlasting." Rev. i. 18. *"I (Jesus Christ) 
am he that liveth, and was dead ; and behold I am alive for 
evermore, and have the keys of death and hell." In all these 
instances of holy writ, this word is used in the unlimited sense. 
It is also used in this sense — 2d Thess. i. 7, 8, 9 ; where it is 
written to the afflicted and persecuted Christians, by St. Paul : 
" And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus 
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming 
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey 
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : Who shall be 'punished 
with everlasting destruction from the (approving) presence of 
the Lord, and the glory of his power (in heaven.) 

Mr. Ballou, in treating on this passage, (see Treatise on 
Atonement, page 183,) endeavors, as appears to us, to wrest the 
meaning from the true one, and to fix it on that which is not 
true — as follows : he says "the word everlasting" in the text 
above given, " is not applied to the duration of punishment, 
but to the destruction with which the sinner is punished :' 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES- 297' 

meaning that the sinner's sins are thus to be destroyed, and not 
the sinner as a person. Bat a careful reader in looking at the 
text, will perceive that the sins are not the objects aimed at, iti 
any sense of the word, (for God knows that sm, as sin, cannot 
be made subject to his law) but that persons, the sinners, who 
shall be punished, &c. were the objects of the text. Sin, as sin, 
abstract from the sinner, is a perfect nonentity, and could never 
be addressed by the terms who, and then — as is done in that 
scripture. If not, then it follows that the sinner who dies im- 
penitent is thus to be endlessly" destroyed, with an everlasting 
destruction, instead of his sins', abstracted from him ; a thing, 
wholly absurd and foolish. We will repeat Mr, Ballou's ideas, 
as above, who says that the destruction named in the text, does 
not apply to the duration of the punishment, but to the destruc- 
tion with which the sinner is actually punished. And what pun- 
ishment is this, which he thinks the text means ? It is the sin- 
ner's release from all his sins, everlastingly :— for he argues 
that the flaming fire in which Christ is to be revealed from 
heaven, is the fire of salvation, and this is the vengeance he is to 
take on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ ; and that this vengeance is every day accom- 
plished, when men become Universalists in their opinion, as we 
presume he means, with all who hold with him. Is it pos- 
sible? Does the cod text to those three verses justify such a be- 
lief? We answer — No, it does not. The reader may wish to 
know what the context is ; it is this : (see verse G of the same 
chapter,) " Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, to recom- 
pense tribulation to them that trouble you." Now if this de- 
struction, or recompensing of the wicked at that day, who 
grievously persecuted the Christians, was after all to be nothing 
but salvation, how can it be called tribulation ? Surely, it can- 
not; seeing salvation is not a process of suffering : yet it must 
be so, if Universalists are right about the meaning of that passage 
of Scripture. A terrible vengeance this ! and a most happy re- 
compense of tribulation to such as opposed themselves to the 
Son of God, his cause, and his people, and thus continue to the 
end of life. Had the blaspheming Jews and Gentiles of that 
day known this thing, with what surprising fury might they not 
have rushed upon all saints, even to utter extermination ; as so 
much the more would they have exposed themselves to the ven- 
geance of salvation, and the righteous retribution of a sin-aveng- 
ing God, in this way. This having been true, what a silly mass 
of human beings were the multitudes of Christians who went to 
the death for Christ's sake , when if they had but denied him, as 
did their persecutors, salvation, equally great and powerful, 
would have been their lot. It is clear, therefore, that the de- 
struction named in the text, was not salvation, as Universalis 

19 



298 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

contend, but the final, total, and eternal damnation of the finally 
wicked and impenitent in hell, in another world. It is out of 
our power to draw any other conclusion than this, however 
dreadful it may appear, if we are to argue from the open and ab- 
solute phraseology of those four verses of the 1st chapter of 2d 
Thessalonians, namely, the 6th. 7th, 8th and 9th. 

Wherefore, let no man deceive himself by supposing the pun- 
ishment spoken of in Matth. xxv. 46, is to have an end, because 
it is found in many instances in the Scripture, that the same 
words, in both Hebrew and Greek, have frequently an accommo- 
dated meaning, intended to express no more than the natural ex- 
istence of the thing, or subject spoken of, though arising out of 
those illimitable words. Suppose a man. receive a deed for a 
piece of land, which promises him and his successors the ever- 
lasting possession — the root of which word everlasting, when 
examined, is found to be eternal, and consequently the fee simple 
is in that man and his successors to eternity, if the earth endure 
so long ; and is therefore used in such a case, in its accommo- 
dated sense only. The everlasting hills, as they are often called 
in the Bible, are specimens of its use in this sense, and are truly 
eternal if the world could endure so long. The same may be 
said of servants, who in certain cases, among the Jews, were to 
serve their masters forever, which was truly eternal, if the 
servant and master endured so long ; and so of all the casesy 
where the word is used in an accommodated sense. But in the 
case of the goats, in the parable of St. Matthew, and other Scrip- 
ture, the word is not used in the accommodated, sense, but in its 
direct, and highest meaning : because God's judgments are eter- 
nal judgments, Heb. vi. 2; and also because the soul is an 
eternal, unending, and undying being. 

Now we know the time alluded to in the above verse, namely, 
the 46th verse of the 25th chapter of Matthew, and other Scrip- 
tures of the same import, is to be the day of general and final 
judgment ; because the 32d verse of the same chapter ; says, 
that at that time " all nations shall be gathered before him," 
and is therefore, to be at the end of the world, or after the resur- 
rection ; as that this side of that event, there has as yet, been 
no such judgment, when all nations have been arraigned and 
divided, each to their several destinies, as described in that 
account. And as we find in that account, that eternal pun- 
ishment is # set opposite to eternal life, both to commence at 
that time, in that peculiar sense ; we prove beyond all logical 
contradiction, that the penal punishment of sinners doe's not 
take place in this life, any more than the whole duration of eter- 
nal life can take place here. TJniversalists never dream of 
telling the people that eternal life is to have an end ; how, there- 
fore, is it that they teach, that eternal death shall have an end } 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 299 

as both these ideas are certainly taught in the Bible, as in the 
texts above argued, and in many other places. But as it is 
said, " these shall go away into everlasting (or eternal) punish- 
ment," it is proper to* enquire of what this punishment is to 
consist, or what the instrument is 1 The answer to this is at v 
hand, in a multitude of places, though in this place we will 
notice but o?ie, which may settle the point as easily as an hund- 
red ; see the 41st verse of the same 25th chapter of St. Matthew : 
" Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, depart from 
me ye cursed, into everlasting (or eternal) fire prepared for 
the devil and his angels." Surely this language is rather too 
strong, if it ' is as Universalists tell us, namely, that this eternal 
fire was nothing more nor less than the destruction of the Jews 
by the Romans. But a common man, under the dictates of his 
reason, in reading it over, would never come to such a conclu- 
sion ; and no man ever would, had it not have been that the 
wise ones of the Universalist order, have found out that God 
talks to the human race a great deal larger and more terrible 
than he really means. 

But according to Mr. Ballou's opinion of the fire here said 
to be everlasting, which is prepared for the devil and his 
angels, it is nothing less nor more than salvation, as he says, 
he knows of no other eternal or everlasting fire but that of 
God's love, as we have before shown. According to this 
view, the text above should be read thus : depart ye cursed 
into everlasting salvation, prepared for the devil and his an- 
gels ; for I was hungry and ye gave me no meat, naked and 
ye clothed me not, sick and in prison and ye came not unto 
me, enter therefore, into the joy of your Lord. To show 
again that this is the belief of Universalists, namely, that there 
is no other unquenchable fire in existence but God's love only, 
we quote Mr. Ballou's Treatise on Atonement, page 164, as 
follows : •< What but the nature of God can be justly called 
unquenchable fire 7 If any other principle in the universe can 
justly bear that appellation, it must be equal, if not superior, 
to God himself. An apostle says, our God is a consuming 
fire, and I must consider it erroneous to believe that this fire 
is quenchable, or that there is more unquenchable fires than 
one." Hence when it is said — as in Matthew's description 
of the great and last day, the end of the world, when God 
shall bring into judgment every man's works — "Depart ye 
cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels," we are to understand that the wicked are to go away 
into God, or into eternal life and salvation, the devil and all 
his followers together. This same fire, is in other parts of 
the New Testament, called hell fire, and is shown to be a 
state of punishment; yet, if Mr. Ballou is right, we are to 



300 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

believe that this hell -fire is the same that Christ should bap- 
tise his disciples with, according to the statement of John, the 
Baptist, and was the Holy Ghost. See Treatise on Aione- 
ment, page 1G2. 

Bat if the fire into which the wicked, who are described by 
the figure of the goats, are to depart, and is called everlasting, 
is after all nothing but the fire of salvation, we learn another 
singular consequence ; which is this, that even the devil, which 
is nothing but the carnal mind, is also to be saved, as well 
as others ; for we must not omit to observe, that this fire of 
salvation was prepared as much for the devil, (carnal mind) 
as for the wicked, and much more so, for it is said in the 
text that it was prepared for the devil and his angels, prima- 
rily. Accordingly, the carnal mind, which is enmity against 
God, and can never be made subject to the law of God, 'as 
stated by St. Paul, is, nevertheless, to be saved in this sal- 
vation fire, according to the premises laid down by the best 
writers of the Universalis! order. But in order to avoid the 
above foolish conclusions, Universalists will say, that the fire — 
which in the text is said was prepared for the devil and his an- 
gels — was nothing but the destruction of Jerusalem by the 
Romans. This is refuted, however, when it is recollected that 
the text says at that time all nations shall be gathered, (Matth. 
xxv. 32.) which all men know, was not the case at the siege of 
Jerusalem. 

Bnt say they, this eternal fire punishment is an unmerciful 
punishment, and therefore is not true. That it is an unmer- 
ciful punishment, we most readily admit, as it is to be entirely 
penal, and in no wise mixed with discipline or mercy. Were 
there mercy, or discipline, mixed with that state of punish- 
ment, then were there hope in the case, and this hope would 
disarm that punishment of its worst feature, and cause it so 
much the less to be feared. All providential sufferings, trials, 
afflictions, and sorrows of this life, whether endured by the 
good or the bad, are undoubtedly discipli?iary, and mixed 
with mercy, and designed as parental corrections ; but that 
which is to take place at the end of the world, according to 
the Bible, is to be without mixture, without hope, without 
mercy, and of necessity, without end, not intended as disci- 
plinary at all, but wholly penal, fatal and final. That such 
is to be the fact, see Revelations xiv. 9, 10, as follows : "And 
the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If 
any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his 
mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink 
of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out ivith- 
out mixture (of discipline) into the cup of his indignation, 
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone (not sal- 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 301 

vation) in the presence of the holy angels, and in the pres- 
ence of the lamb; and the smoke of their torment (not sal- 
vation) ascendeth up for ever and ever." The same writer, 
the Revelator, in another place, teaches the same thing, (see 
chapter 21, verse 8,) "But the fearful and unbelieving, and 
the abominable and murderers, and whoremongers, and sor- 
cerers, and idolators, and all liars shall have their part in the 
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the 
second death." Was that lake of fire and brimstone the des- 
truction of the Jews by the Romans ? and was that occurrence 
the second death, of which St. John here speaks ? If so, the 
language is too strong for the event. If it be enquired, what 
good, or what bc?iefd, can arise out of this unmerciful and eter- 
nal punishment of the finally impenitent ? we answer none at 
all, as to the sufferer, as that is not the design : but in relation 
to the government of God, immense and infinite good is effect- 
ed; as by it the veracity of God, and his opposedness to sin 
and moral dereliction, is made manifest in the sight of all 
worlds, and of all intelligences. Were it not so, he would ap- 
pear as being indifferent to the actions of his creatures, which 
would be an end of his government. Which, we ask, is of the 
most importance, the wicked soul of a man, who has during a 
day of grace (his life time) outraged all laws, human and 
divine, and passed into eternity covered with moral defilement ; 
or the truth and veracity of God 7 Most certainly the latter ; 
for if God is not found true to his word, and opposed to sin 
in the utmost extent, without the least allowance or pallia- 
tion, there is an end to all being, and in a moment the whole 
universe would cease to exist; as a God of falsehood, who 
connives at sin, calling it best upon the whole, could not up- 
hold either himself or his works, and would at once become 
an object of abhorence 'to every intellectual creature. If there 
is not sufficient penal exaction attached to a breach of moral 
law, then is moral law of no force, any more than if it did not 
exist ; and God is found indifferent as to the actions of his crea- 
tures, which is impossible even to conceive of without a shudder. 
Is mercy an ingredient in penal law, as known and administered 
even among men ? It is not ; and shall we calculate that there 
is less energy in the law or government of God than in the 
government of men ? Has it ever yet appeared that the inflic- 
tion of capital penal laws of either God or men, aim at the 
reformation of delinquents ? There can be no such thing, as 
the very nature of prohibitory law forbids it: if mercy is extend- 
ed to delinquents at all, it is not extended in virtue of such law, 
and must reach the sinner on the behalf of atonement, if it 
reaches him at all ; as law must and will have its honor, either 
in atonement or in penal execution. 



302 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

But still the objector cannot see the reasonableness nor the 
propriety, of endless punishment being threatened, or executed ; 
when that same objector can but see, that anything short of 
such threatenings, and of such execution, would be without 
adequate energy, and would .unnerve the arm that holds the 
reign of universal government, on account of a mixture of 
merciful inefficiency ; and would lessen the reason why men 
and angels should not sin. Is it unreasonable that God should 
ordain, that heaven and hell should be the moral antipode 
of each other? — and indeed, is not this their natural posi- 
tions ? If heaven is a place of exquisite happiness, why not, 
therefore, hell a place of exquisite misery ? Should not God 
hold the great balance of the universe, in his adjudication 
of law in holy equipoise ? It is of no force thr.t the objector 
still continues to reiterate that he cannot see the propriety 
of endless punishment, and will not, therefore, believe it. Can 
he see (allow us to enquire,) the propriety of endless hap- 
piness, any better than he can the other side of the ques- 
tion? No, not a whit — suffer us to answer — only, as happi- 
ness is more agreeable to the imagination, he therefore receives 
it, without staying to consider its abstract propriety. Is there 
any thing in man which gives him a claim to eternal hap- 
piness ? No. — is the universal answer. How then can its 
propriety and agreement with justice appear, so as to be com- 
prehended by man? Please to observe, that we do not object 
to eternal happiness as being inconsistent, because we have 
no equitable claim for such a condition ; yet such is the lim- 
ited condition of our perceptions, that the utmost fitness and 
propriety of eternal salvation, cannot be reached by us ; as it 
requires even the mind of God fully to know and understand 
the things of God, and the reason of the vast amount of eternal 
happiness. We might, therefore, as well deny the fact of ever- 
lasting life, because we cannot understand the utmost propriety 
thereof, as to deny the fact of eternal misery merely because we 
cannot see its agreement with the awful judgment of God in its 
fullest extent. 

We have said above that there is nothing in man which 
gives him a claim on God to eternal happiness, and that all 
agree to this ; yet we ought to exempt Universalists, for they 
believe happiness after death, to be an unalienable inheritance, 
founded on the goodness of God as our Creator, and not any 
thing which Christ has done, as meritorious for us; conse- 
quently, we have a natural right to a place in heaven, which no 
moral aberration of ours can in the least effect. With this view, 
it is impossible for this people to believe in punishment at all, 
except it be disciplinary punishment, designed to amend the 
character, and finally will have this effect, as they suppose, in 
this world or no where. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 303 

It is therefore our belief, that Universalists do not believe the 
doctrine of universal and unconditional salvation, merely because 
they cannot see the impropriety of eternal punishment, but 
because it is more agreeable to the lazy, stupid feelings of 
poor miserable fallen human nature, which hates the labor of 
improvement, and of working out (one's) salvation with fear and 
trembling." On this great and dreadful subject, the punishment 
of the wicked after death, see Hebrews x. 28, 29, from whence 
it appears impossible that any other conclusion can be made 
out, than that such a doctrine is true, however much it may 
be opposed by such as are interested to do so. The passage 
is as follows: — "He that despised Moses' law died without 
mercy under two or three witnesses : of how much sorer 
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy (of) who 
hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted 
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified (or 
redeemed) an unholy thing, and done despite unto the spirit 
of grace." Death, it appears, was the sorest punishment that 
could be inflicted for any breach of the law of Moses this side 
eternity. 

Now if all sin is punished here in this life, how is it that St. 
Paul has supposed it possible that a sorer punishment should be 
thought proper to be inflicted upon such, than death ? although 
the sin committed is a thousand times more horrible than to 
despise and break the law of Moses, before the time of Christ, 
unless we believe he means punishment after death, even, the 
damnation of the soul 1 

If it were within the jurisdiction of Christianity, to punish 
with death, blasphemy, or any other sin, such as to count the? 
blood of Jesus Christ an unholy thing, how would a man go 
to work to make out a sorer punishment than death after all - f 
so that he who should be guilty of treading under foot the' 
blood of the Atonement, by saying, as some have said, that 
the blood of Christ is no better than the blood of a dog toward 
salvation, would go free of a part of due punishment ; because 
temporal death, in such a case, could not reach the extent 
and turpitude of the crime, as it could in the case of the out- 
raged law of Moses, so far as it related to that law in the light: 
of a human tribunal. So that we are here compelled to go into 
eternity with the culprit, for that sorer punishment, which St- 
Paul thought was due for that sin which could not be committed 
under the law of Moses, for Christ had not then shed his blood? 
for man. 

But it may be objected to the above conclusion, that there is 
no need of going into eternity for that sorer punishment, in 
such a case of sin ; as that a suffering conscience, for a while in 
this life, would be far worse even than death. But whether 



304 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

this is true, we have only to ask such a sinner which he had rath- 
er do, live here awhile, in the agonies of a guilty conscience, as 
ordinarily experienced, or die on the gallows for the crime, 
although such an one might go from that gallows to the realms 
of glory in an instant; what is it supposed his answer would 
be ? We venture to say, there is not a Universalist under hea- 
ven but would choose to live in such a case, however much his 
conscince might trouble him. This would prove that they 
would fear that sorer punishment of which St. Paul has spoken, 
notwithstanding their bravo doctrine of no hell, no devil, and no 
future day or time of judgment. But as to this guilty conscience 
suffering, of which Universalists talk so much, it is all a matter of 
nonentity, so far as its proving a check to the commission of sin, 
or even of its existence at all. For it is- well known to every 
individual of the human race, who have reflected on the subject, 
that the distant fear of feeling bad in one's mind merely, with 
no other evil appended thereto, as a consequence, is of no force 
to prevent the commission of sin : and as it is well known, and 
also supported by Scripture, that the heart of man is prone to 
evil, and that continually, it follows of necessity, that so feeble a 
barrier as the expectation of feeling bad in one's own mind 
merely, about a thing one wishes to do, however criminal it may 
be, is not suflicient to prevent sin in one single instance, over the 
whole earth. 

If the awful sanctions of the Bible, which threaten the finally 
impenitent sinner with the damnatian of hell, is found insuffi- 
cient in a multitude of cases, to restrain men from great acts 
of outrage and crime, how much less, therefore must the other 
idea effect, in its influence? We do not hesitate to say, that 
it can and does effect just nothing at all. How can a man 
fear himself, in relation to a thing he wishes to do ? as the heart is 
always ready to excuse the turpitude of its thoughts and deeds ; 
and as it knows or believes, on the Universalist plan, that if it 
commit such and such a deed, all the effect it can produce, will 
be that of the bare idea that I shall have done relatively wrong, 
only. But if there can be no other possible consequence than to 
feel bad about it, a short time in tiiis life, this very idea will en- 
tirely destroy the dread of feeling bad at all, and would at once 
induce the universal commission of crime, Or lesser sins, without 
the least restraint or check of conscience. The very principle 
called conscience, on this procedure, would cease to exist in the 
human soul ; for as the conscience is the produce of education, 
take away the kind of education which produces conscience : no 
matter whether it is a good or bad, a weak or strong conscience, 
it will cease altogether. If a man feels inclined to defraud his 
fellow, his reflections — if the Universalist sentiment is true — 
may be as follows : Now, in my heart, I do desire the possession 
of my neighbor's farm ; and as I am in possession of a certain 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 305 

train of operations, I will put that train of things into execution, 
which shall result in the possession of my neighbor's farm, with- 
out its costing me any thing worth naming. But let me reflect a 
little : sha'n't I be damned for it in another world, except I re- 
pent, and am pardoned, and make the man restitution, if it is in 
my power ? O no : that is impossible ! as there is no hell. — 
Well, but sha'n't I feel bad about it in my own mind, in this 
life? I can't see why I should — as there is no possible evil 
consequence to me? attending it, — and as it will be just what I 
very much wish, — it will, of necessity, make me feel very well, 
instead of bad. so far as I am able to judge of the matter. But 
if I believed the doctrines of the orthodox, which is, that for every 
idle word, thought, or unjust deed, which a man may do in this 
life, he must give account to God at the awful day of judgment ; 
unless he has repented — been forgiven, and has made all" the re- 
stitution there may be in his power: I could not do this thing. 
But if I am only threatened with the pain of what is called a 
guilty conscience, in this life, I will certainly do it ; as I know 
by experience, and believe that millions of others know the same 
thing, that is quite tolerable to be borne, and very easily got 
along with, and in no wise frightful to the imagination ; so that 
quite a feeble person, in body or mind, might stand it without 
visible injury. 

Suppose a man of great possession, of lands, of houses, and of 
goods in abundance, with the influence and pleasure such a con- 
dition generally affords : but suppose circumstances turn up, 
which shall put all this in jeopardy ; nay, shall absolutely cause 
an exchange of owners, except a false oath be taken ; will Uni- 
versalist principles save a man from this crime, under such cir- 
cumstances? We fear they will not. A man thus situated; if 
a thorough Universalist would say within himself, it is a glori- 
ous possession, — and will a xcord save it to myself, and to my 
posterity: — it will, and therefore shall, though that word is 
false ; as all the injury I can sustain by it, if it is not found out, 
will be trouble of conscience ; but as I know God is not sinned 
against by it, and that he will not trouble me about it after death, 
that I shall not be troubled by it in this life, as I can keep my 
own secret ; I see no barrier to my swearing false ; neither do I 
see any particular reason why I shall suffer in my conscience, or 
even feel bad at all, as the very false oath itself, is exactly what 
God wants I should do ; as I am taught by Universalists that he 
has a use for every volition of man, whether good or bad. 
Thus we see the principle would bear out a man in this proce- 
dure. 

But if it is objected to the above, that Universalists are as tena- 
cious of the truth, under all circumstances, as Christians of oth- 
er sects, — we reply, that we do not dispute it. But the reasow 

20 



306 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

why ', is : they dare not rely on their principles, to the fullest ex- 
tent, in a desperate case — as above described. 

St. Paul said, (Acts, xxiv. 16,) "Herein do I exercise myself, 
to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and 
toward men." But Universalists tell us, we have nothing to do 
with God in the matter ; and that all our concern is to behave 
well toward our fellow men. To behave well toward men, or 
in other words to have a good conscience toward men, is but one 
half of Christianity ; which, however, can do the soul no good, 
in relation to God, except the other half is there also, and that 
is to have a good conscience toward God ; the two must go to- 
gether, or religion has no being. It is held by Universalists, 
who are thorough in the understanding of their doctiiaes, that 
there is no absolute moral evil in existence ; and that all that 
class of human actions denominated sin are but relatively so, 
and exist only in relation to society, but not directly against God, 
and that even this relative sin is according to the wish and de- 
cree of God, and is used by him in such a way as upon the 
whole, is to be of exceeding great utility in the world. Now on 
this view, how can a man feel bad in his mind when he sins ? 
How can a man suffer in his conscience? The thing is impos- 
sible : — because there is no conscience to suffer— this mode of 
education does not bring it forth, as it is not needed. But a con- 
trary education has a contrary effect, and produces the fear and 
love of God together — which is true Christianity, and not a half 
breed. If a man thinks that his wicked actions are of use upon 
the whole, and are so esteemed by the Creator himself, how can 
he feel a guilty conscience, let him do what he will I It is im- 
possible to have any conceptions of a guilty consciejice, or of its 
origin, only on the ground of penal law ; and that penal law, the 
law of God, — to be applied judicially by him. 

If there is no moral evil in existence, and that which is called 
relative evil, or sin, exists only in the relation of man to man, 
then of necessity conscience can exist only in a relative way ; 
and the hell into which the wicked are to be cast, according to 
Universalists, can only be a relative hell : and how St. Paul man- 
aged to have a conscience toward God, in all he did, is more than 
we can tell, if sin is but relative. How can a conscience suffer 
without fear ? and how can it fear, if there is nothing to fear ex- 
cept itself? as is the fact, if Universalists are right: God having 
nothing to do in the matter ; as his goodness is on so great and 
noble a scale, as not to trouble himself much, on his own ac- 
count, about the actions of men, ox in any way to charge them 
with real moral evil, or sin. 

No wonder it is called a comfortable doctrine, and is received 
with avidity by thousands, who are reckless, abandoned, and 
care nothing for time or eternity, resting upon this great saJvo of 
universal, unconditional salvation, as they call it, after death. 



i-NGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 307 

Were such a doctrine to become universal, it were impossible to 
bring home to the mind, with any degree of force or influence, 
the propriety and utility of laic, either human or divine. There 
would be produced, a universal recklessness of behaviour, on the 
ground that all evil behaviour which might accrue, belonged to 
the great plan of God's universe, and by liim could be turned to 
some good account ; and even if it could not, would ultimately 
injure no man, especially in eternity. What ground, therefore, 
is there, why a man should fear to sin ? Absolutely none at all, 
that we can see. Can the conscience fear itself, especially when 
it knows that if it does suffer for any crime, that that very suffer- 
ing is its hope, its salvation and purifier ? That such is the 
case, according to Universalists, is most true, and entirely nulli- 
fies the whole idea of suffering at all, in any way, either disci- 
plinary or peually, by judicial sanction and appointment ; and 
destroys the whole government of God, except as the mere gov- 
ernor of the powers of unintellectual nature. But says the Uni- 
versalist, we do fear to sin, because of the expected sufferings of a 
guilty conscience. This we deny, and aver that no man can 
suffer by anticipation, for a sin not yet committed ; as it is impos- 
sible to know any thing of the feeling which he may have if he 
does it ; and therefore, on that account, cannot be deterred from 
its commission ; there must be something more powerful pre- 
sented to the imagination, or it will not hesitate ; such is the 
natural bias of the human heart to sin, now that we are fallen 
from our original purity in Adam, as God produced him. But 
as we have before said, it is impossible to produce a conscience 
toward God, if there is no other penal law than the anticipated 
suffering relative to conscience, and even that having nothing to 
do with God, as they hold no sin can be committed against that 
being, in a direct sense. But David did not think so ; see the 
51st Psalm, 4 : " Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and 
done this evil in thy sight." Joseph, the Saviour of Egypt did 
not think so ; see Gen. xxxix. 9 ; " How can I do this great 
wickedness, and sin against God." Do not these passages 
prove that sin in its highest sense is against God, as well also, as in 
its lowest sense, against our fellow. Were this not so, St. Paul 
should have said, " Herein do I exercise myself, to have always 
a conscience void of offence toward men," leaving God out of 
the question ; as he could not view even the worst acts of men 
as absolute moral evil or sin, according to Mr. Ballou, toward 
God. This twofold conscience, therefore, points to God as its 
author, and feels itself amenable to him, even in the midst of 
principles which go, in their influence and nature, to destroy its 
being. 

We deem it impossible to sin at all, except the conscience havft 
knowledge of the penalty, either by impression or by letter, as it 
is by thelaw of God that we have a knowledge of sin ; and what 



308 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

is a law without an adequate penalty, whether human or divine? 
O, but says the Universalist, we hold to the law of love, that is 
the all atoning and the all redeeming principle. Yery well, we 
admit that love of the right kind, such as purifies the heart and 
works by love, and is implanted from above by the power of the 
Holy Ghost, in the moment of the new birth, andthesanctification 
of man's nature by the grace of God, has no penalty in it ; for it is 
this very thing which turns aside the force of the penal law of 
God, which says, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, 
let him be anathema maranatha ;" or as it is when translated, 
let him be accursed. But what was the curse to consist in, or 
how is it to affect such as do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, at 
the last day? This is answered by our Lord himself — Matth. 
xxv. 41 — who has said, " Depart from me ye cursed, into ever- 
lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." On which 
account, we perceive that the fire which was prepared, not for 
the Jews as a nation, but for the devil and his angels, and all 
who love not the Lord Jesus Christ, is something very different 
from what Universalists teach us ; and is that penalty which is 
the sanction of the divine law of God, to be poured out on every 
one without mixture, after death, unless previously pardoned and 
sanctified by the eternal spirit on account of Jesus Christ. 

It is also sometimes said by this sect, that this everlasting fire, 
which was prepared for the devil and his angels, is the fire of the 
Holy Ghost; or in other words the fire of salvation, which is to 
make sinners good men, as before shown, burning up their sins ; 
or, in other words, it is the fire of God's love to all men, which is 
never to be quenched, of which we shall again speak toward the 
close of the work. 

To teach that the mere feelings of a guilty conscience, as here 
experienced, in this life, is the only suffering a sinner has to 
dread, makes a man's own mind his judge ; a selfish and inter- 
ested judge, one, who of necessity, cannot be severe in its own 
condemnation, as the heart is always ready to excuse its own 
acts ; and in this way runs the sanctions of Christianity entireiy 
out ; so that the concerns of the souls of the human race are in 
the scale of being, of infinitely less importance, than the things 
and circumstances connected with the body and common law 
affairs of our race. This way of managing the conscience, is 
very similar, though not quite as severe, as the auricular confes- 
sions of the Romanists ; who, it is presumable, cannot confess 
all their sins to the priest, on account of forgetfulness, and from 
the person confessing, judging more favorably of his own acts 
than God would, or even a human judge, if he knew all ; so that 
a danger, nay, a certainty follows, that one sin in a thousand is 
not confessed to the priest, after all. So also, a Universalist 
would not suffer in his conscience, except for very great sins. 
Conscience exists in the human mind, in exact proportion to the 



AXGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 309 

kind of education which calls it forth to action from its latent or 
incipient condition ; and is in this respect, like other faculties of 
the soul, which are not discovered till certain circumstances 
occur, which bring them into action and to view. If there is 
law of human authority, for the regulation of the rights of 
society, and one branch of that law is the prohibition of murder, 
and enforced by affixing thereto death, as a penalty, he who vio- 
lates it at once becomes distressed - on account of his personal 
safety, and flies the pursuer. But should the fugitive by any 
means become informed, as he is flying here and there, that in 
the place where he had committed the murder, the penalty, by a 
wise, good and benificent legislature, had been abrogated, and 
no other substituted in its place — his fears and his conscience, 
which should be wholly relative, according to the Universalists, 
disappear in a moment. Let, therefore, the doctrine of uncon- 
ditional and universal salvation become individually and uni- 
versally the belief of men, then disannul all penal law in all 
countries, how will we go to work to sustain the existence of the 
conscience of any sort, whether toward God or man ? It must 
cease, as the cause which produced it, is at an end ; the faculty 
will sink back into its original, latent, unseen, unknown, and 
inert condition, as it was before either the law of God or of man 
was revealed or promulgated, to bring it forth. 

But if it be insisted, by any man who thinks he believes the 
Universalist doctrine respecting this conscience suffering in this 
life, that he has a conscience, and always feels distressed when 
he does a wicked act — suffer us to say, that such feelings are the 
very evidence that the doctrine has not received the entire and 
unvarying confidence of that man's mind ; as it is utterly impos- 
sible for any human being, instructed in the Scriptures, so to 
feel, except there is a fear of punishment after death ; which 
fear is the true and only origin of such feelings or of such a con- 
sciousness. On this subject, it should never be forgotten, that 
the law was not made against the righteous, but against the 
wicked solely ; see 1st Tim. i. 9, 10 : « Know this, that the law 
is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and the 
disobedient, for the ungodly and for sin?iers, for unholy and 
profane," &c. Were it not for the moral law of God, with its 
penalty, which is eternal death, a good man or a good angel 
could have no such feeling as a good conscience ; as the data 
from which good and evil, are distinguished could not exist ; 
and even good and evil, as distinct conditions or qualifications, 
could have no being. 

Thus we perceive the fair conclusion on the subject of this con- 
science suffering, as held by Universalists, is just a solemn noth- 
ing ; and that on their plan, there is no foundation for any 
conscience at all in the human mind ; and if they, as a people, or 
individual, have a conscience, which feels when touched tfy sin ; 



310 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

it is because they are not radically sound in the heterodox notion 
ot a conscience purgatory, and retain still in their minds, in a 
degree, the force of a contrary education, first of all revealed from 
heaven, by virtue of the great atonement, and disseminated by 
the Providence of God through all ranks of men, in every age, 
but most of all, where the Bible has been known. 

A greater fallacy was never invented, than the idea that a suf- 
fering conscience, as produced on the Universalist plan, is all the 
suffering there can be for sin. and that in this life ; seeing the 
true origin of a conscience at all, is the fear of the penal law of 
God, as shall be executed in another world after death. That 
such is to be the fact, see Heb. ix. 27 : " It is appointed unto men 
once to die, but after that the judgment." Now what judgment 
is here spoken of? Surely not the destruction of the city of the 
Jews, as Universalists believe ; for if so, then all the Jews, and 
all other men, whether they existed before that event, or since, 
were to die before the ruin of that people, however impossible this 
may appear, because it is said in the text, that it is appointed unto 
men (which is a term embracing the whole species,) once to die, 
but after that the judgment. From this it would follow, that 
if all men were to die before the judgment, the destruction of 
the Jews, that there could have been no Jews for the Romans to 
have destroyed and captured, nor any Romans to have captured 
the Jews, as all human beings must have been dead before that 
time, by which we perceive the idea refutes itself. If the text 
had read thus : it is appointed unto men once to die, and after 
that the destruction of Jerusalem, then we should have some 
reason to understand the text, to the exclusiqn of a day of judg- 
ment after death. 

St. Paul believed in a day of final judgment, as we learn from 
his discourse with Felix, the Roman governor, at Cesarea : (see 
Acts xxiv. 24, 25,) " And after certain days, when Felix came 
with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and 
heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned 
of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix 
trembled." Now why did Felix tremble 7 Was he afraid he 
should be killed in the siege of Jerusalem, which took place 
about ten years after that time ? No ! this was impossible ; as he 
was a Roman, and a Roman governor, and then in favor with 
the Emperor, and could not possibly apprehend any evil to him- 
self on that account Was Felix afraid the reasoning of Paul 
would so terrify Drusilla, his wife, who was a Jewess, whom 
he had unlawfully taken from her husband, that she would for- 
sake him from remorse of conscience ? No ! this could not have 
been the reason of his trembling ; because at that very time, her 
first and lawful " husband had been dead about three years." 
Clarke. If then the reasoning of St. Paul against licentious- 
ness, of which Felix was exceedingly guilty, and of the judg- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES- 



311 



ment to coma, which so affected him, was not the destruction of 
the Jews, nor the dread of his wife's leaving him, which caused 
him to tremble,— what then was the real cause ? There remains 
but one other ; and that was the dread of appearing before God to 
give an account of the deeds done in his body, at the judgment of 
the last day. What other reason could there have been which 
had so powerful an effect upon a haughty, cruel, proud and libid- 
inous governor, as to cause him to tremble, and that in the pres- 
ence of a poor prisoner, bound in fetters, at the very bar where 
Felix presided 1 — 'tis impossible to suppose any other. But on 
the other idea, that of a judgment to come, which should not 
only affect him, but all the human race, he may be supposed to 
have trembled, especially when the lips and the tongue of such a 
minister of God as was St. Paul, was inspired from heaven to an- 
nounce the doom of the wicked before hand, including even Fe- 
lix, except he repented and was pardoned. 

But suppose the apostle had been curious, enough to have in- 
quired of Felix the reason why he so shook and trembled, what 
would have been his reply, think ye ? Would he have told Paul 
that he was afraid of being damned as soon as he should die, on 
account of his wickedness or intemperance ? or would he have 
said it was his sympathies for the Jews, who were soon to be 
ruined, as Universalists seem to think, and his fear of being kill- 
ed himself in that war? The former, it is our opinion, would 
have been his answer, as there was no room for any other kind 
of fear, in his peculiar case. But if Paul had been a Universal- 
ist, he could have told Felix that there was no reason for him to 
tremble and feel so bad, from a fear of being damned after death, 
as that there is no hell, except that which his preaching had just 
then produced in his bosom. What would Felix have thought 
on an announcement of this kind 7 W^e think we can tell you : he 
would have thought, that as he had hitherto got along very well 
as it respected his sins, that he could thereafter do equally well, 
and therefore there is no need that I should fear and tremble as 
I do. If Paul had said this to the governor, he would have soon 
quieted his fears, and ceased his excessive trembling, caring no- 
thing about the matter any way. This is the direct effect of the 
great unconditional salvo of Universalist doctrine ; it prevents 
conviction for sin ; laughs at regeneration by the spirit of 
truth, and sneers at sanctifi cation by the Holy Ghost, and teach- 
es men that mere morality is all-sufficient to secure happiness 
here ; and as to the future, after this life they have nothing to 
do about that at all, as heaven is to be the gift of God to all, both 
good and bad, alike. But if it is to be a gift, we enquire whe- 
ther God is obliged to bestow this gift or not? If it is answer- 
ed that he is obliged to do it, on account of his goodness, then 
it is not a gift, but an act of necessity, which he is not able to re- 
sist, and therefore is not his act, but the act of another kind of 



312 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



being, called necessity. Bat if it is answered that he is not 
obliged to do this, then it may follow that he will not do it. ex- 
cept it is right and consistent ; and if right and consistent] that 
right and consistency may depend on the worthiness or adapta- 
tion of that happiness to characters fitted beforehand, in this life, 
to receive and enjoy it. 

But to talk of heaven as the future home of the souls of men, 
on such ground as that, namely, by gift, to all, both the good 
and the bad alike, nullifies the very idea of gift ; as it is impos- 
sible that any other condition awaits them, there being n® other 
condition in eternity ; and is not, therefore, the gift of God, but 
inevitable fate ; to which we are all hastening, as surely as that 
gravitation tends to the centre. It is admitted, however, that 
though it is fate — were this the truth of the case — that it is a 
good fate, but never can be called salvation in any sense what- 
ever. The word salvation is without meaning, except it is sup^ 
posed that a contrary condition may or does exist. Now, as 
there is in eternity, according to Universalists, nothing contrary 
to a happy and glorified condition, it is seen at once that the 
word salvation is not to be used, when speaking of that happy 
state, but is to be wholly restricted to this \i(e. In doing this, we 
go on the same scale that the Universalists do about the word dam^ 
nation ; who confine it wholly to this life, as no such condition 
is or can be in eternity, according to their view. Now as these 
people hold that there is no real moral evil or sin in the world, 
and that which is commonly called relative moral evil or sin, is 
according to the wish, desire and plan of God, of which he can 
make, on the whole, a most excellent use, it follows that the word 
salvation has no application, even in this life, more than in the 
other ; so that the fair result of this enquiry is, that Universalists 
have nothing to do with the word salvation, in any sense what- 
ever in their principles, notwithstanding their great boasting on 
that account. /Salvation always supposes an opposite condition 
to itself, which it opposes ; and offers to rescue or prevent such 
as are in danger of falling into that opposite condition ; if this is not 
so, then the word nor the thing can have no application to the 
human race. Now, on the Universalist plan, the word nor the 
thing is not called for ; as men were never in danger of falling, 
into a condition which never did nor never can exist, namely, 
that which is contrary to salvation, whatever it may be supposed 
to be. According to this, it appears that the free use these peo- 
ple make of the word salvation, in their books, their preaching, 
and general conversation on religious subjects, is but begging 
the question, and taking the advantage of a word and a doctrine 
which belongs exclusively to the orthodox sects, by which to rise 
in an easy way, and tp become popular among the careless and 
the wicked, which is the fact. The whole amount of the idea 
is this, that the human race are produced and impelled on- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 313 

ward to certain happiness, without the least possible danger of 
miscarrying, as their condition is as much fixed as that of the 
Creator's; on which account the word salvation is without 
meaning, as there is nothing to be saved from ; and consequent- 
ly is inapplicable to the human race ; which idea, however, we 
consider absurd and foolish, as salvation from sin here and its 
consequences hereafter, is the whole amount of Christianity, as 
manifested in the earth ; the contrary is deism. 

The doctrine of a future judgment after death, at the time of 
the last resurrection, was believed by all the Jews before Christ 
came to amplify and to carry into effect the virtue and truth of 
the law of Moses, as we learn from the writings of their Rabbins, 
as late as about 400 years before his advent ; see Apocraphy, 
2d book of Esdras. xiv. 34, 35, where it is written, " Therefore 
if so be that ye will subdue your own understanding, and reform 
your hearts, ye shall be kept alive, and after death ye shall find 
mercy. For after death shall the judgment come, when we 
shall live again; and then shall the names of the righteous be 
manifest, and the works of the ungodly shall be declared." This 
belief of the ancient Jews is everywhere corroborated in the 
New-Testament as well as in the Old, notwithstanding Mr. Bal- 
four believes they derived it from the Persians, or ancient fire- 
worshippers, and from the heathen Greeks. It is corroborated 
by St. John, xi. 24, in the conversation held between the Saviour 
and Martha, the sister of Lazarus, a Jew, who it appears had 
died : » Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Mar- 
tha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resur- 
rection at the last day? Does not this prove the doctrine of a 
day of judgment at the end of time, es the last day must of ne 
cessity be the end of the world? It is impossible that Martha 
could have had any allusion to the destruction of Jerusalem by 
the words, the " last day ;" as it is not likely that such a thought 
had ever passed her mind as that Jerusalem was to be destroyed 
some forty years from that time ; or if she had, surely she did 
not think that time would be the time of the general resurrection, 
and that then her brother should arise from the dead; if she did 
it was a spurious hope, for none of the dead were raised at that 
time. But of whom did Martha learn this doctrine of a last day 
resurrection, which is the same as the day of judgment at the 
last day ? She learnt it out of the Jewish Scriptures and com- 
mentaries of the rabbins on those Scriptures, (as the New Tes- 
tament was not then written) which the Saviour did not dispute 
nor correct, while conversing with her about her brother's death. 
St. Paul corroborates this belief— Heb. ix. 28 — " It is appointed 
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Why was 
it appointed unto men once to die ? Because they have sinned ; 
for the Apostle says in axiother place — see Romans v. 12 — that 

21 



314 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

" sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death 
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Also, Acts xviL 
30, 31, teaches the same thing: " God , . . now eommandeth all 
men everywhere to repent ; because he hath appointed a day in 
the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man 
(Jesus Christ) whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given 
assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the 
dead." Now what world was it which the text last quoted says 
was to be judged on a certain day, or time, in righteousness, by 
Jesus Christ l Was it the world of the Jews, or the Jewish na- 
tion, as believed by Universalists, and as destroyed by the Ro- 
mans 7 Noy this cannot be, unless we can suppose lhat God 
raised his Son from the dead, for no other purpose than to give 
assurance to all men that he would allow the Romans to destroy 
the Jews ; which is too foolish a notion to need refutation. 

This doctrine, that of a day of judgment yet to come, is taught 
in direct terms by our Savious • see St. John v. 28, 29 : " Marvel 
not at this, (at what % why that to the Son was committed au- 
thority to execute judgment,.) for the hour is coming y (was not 
then) in which all that are in the grams shall hear feis (Christ's) 
voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good' unto the 
resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resur- 
rection of damnation? By this we understand the damnation 
of hell, after this life, at the time of the last resurrection, when 
all who are then in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of 
God, and shall come forth ; the same as the good had done a 
thousand years before, at the time of the first resurrection, But 
this meaning is disputed by Universalists, because it is said in 
the same chapter, at the 25th verse, " Verily verily I say unto* 
you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall heai 
the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear shall live." 
They understand this last quotation to be spoken of all mankind,, 
who shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall conse- 
quently rise from the dead and live, or shall be all finally saved 
in heaven. But suppose we delay a moment, ere we set it down 
as indubitable ; beeause we notice that it is added in that same 
verse, in six emphatic words, "and they that hear shall live." 
This addition, which is not in the 25th verse, implies human 
agency and human liberty, with all the conditions of the gos- 
pel ; promising life to those who should hear, and to none else : 
and implying a state of continued moral death to such as would 
not hear, or in other words, such as would not receive after they 
had heard. This is easily shown to be scriptural — see Matth. 
xiii. 13 — "Therefore speak I to them in parables; because, 
they seeing, see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they 
understand." That is, they resisted the light, " least at any time 
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and 
should understand with the heart, and should be converted, and 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 315 

I should heal them." But the other two verses first quoted, 
namely, the 28th and 29th, are remarkable in their difference 
from the 25th, in two particulars, and these are, first, there is no 
mention in the latter — the 25th— of any graves at all, from which 
they were to come forth ; and second, in the 28th and 29th there 
is no optional power implied, as is in the 25th, namely, " they 
that hear shall live :" but it is imperiously said in the 28th and 
29th, that " all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and 
shall come forth ; they that have done good unto the resurrection 
of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of dam- 
nation." And more than this, as a third particular of difference, 
the 28th and 29th verses do not say that the hour now is, but 
that the hour is coming, placing it wholly in futurity, which 
the 25th verse does not do. Universalists insist that these verses 
speak wholly on one and the same subject, which they think is 
moral reformation from sin and death in this life. They think 
the word graves, there used, means to be dead in trespasses and 
sins in this life ; and that to come forth from those graves is to 
become Christians, in their sense of the word Christian. But on 
t'lis view of the subject, there is a wonderful difficulty to be got 
over, or it will not do. And what is this difficulty ? Why it is 
this, that the good are also to be raised up out of the same state 
of death, carnal mindedness and sin, as well as the bad ; and 
shows that the good are in their graves, and in as much need of 
conversion as the bad ; which is a sort of jumbling of matters 
unknown to straight forward theology. 

The prophet Daniel has contemplated the same thing, and 
foretold the same event, making the same difference between the 
final end of the good and the bad, which the Saviour has done, 
in the texts above examined. Daniel, xii. 2, as follows : " And 
many of them that sleep (are dead) in the dust of the earth, (the 
graves) shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame 
and everlasting contempt." But this text also, is otherwise inter- 
preted by Universalists ; who imagine it was written by Daniel 
in reference to the deliverance of the Jews from their then stat© 
of Babylonian captivity, which was soon to take place : and that 
the terms, dust of the earth, signified their state of servitude and 
slavery, in which they slept as a people, and were nationally 
dead. But this interpretation cannot be the right one ; because 
of the impossibility of shame and everlasting contempt attaching 
its opprobrium to any part of the Jews so raised up, and delivered 
from that dust of the earth their national grave. It cannot be 
the right interpretation, from another view of the subject $ be- 
cause a part of them so to be raised up, were to be raised up, or 
were to awake to eternal or everlasting life. Now if this 
awaking from the dust of the earth, was the national resurrec- 
tion of the Jews from their captivity, how can such a circum- 
stance be Called everlasting life, e'ven though they had main- 



316 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

tained it thereafter even till this time, and to the end of the world, 
their national standing as it was after their recovery from their 
then state of degradation, as politics or nationality has nothing 
to do with everlasting life ? But when we call to mind that the 
Jewish nation, in less than six hundred years from the time of 
their Babylonian captivity in Daniel's time were again destroyed 
and dispersed over the earth by the Romans, the successors of the 
Greeks, who were the successors of the Chaldeans, or Babylo- 
nians, it is still farther removed from the idea of everlasting life, 
unless we can suppose an everlasting life amounting to no more 
duration than less than six hundred years. How can it be pos- 
sible that shame and everlasting contempt could follow to one 
of them as a consequence of their release from a shameful state of 
slavery, which had endured seventy years, and from their resto- 
ration to their country, government, and religion ? It is nonsense 
to suppose such* a thing ; yet so the Universalists instruct the 
people, and many there are who hear them. 

The graves mentioned by St. John, v. 28, from which all that 
are in them are to arise when they shall hear the voice of the 
Son of God, are said, as before remarked, by Universalists, to be 
the carnal state of men in their sins ; and their resurrection from 
those graves at the voice of the Son of God, is their conversion 
to Christianity : how, therefore, we enquire with much wonder, 
how in the name "of logic can it be said to be a resurrection of 
damnation, or to ease this a little, a resurrection of condemna- 
tion, or shame and dishonor 7 And, respecting the good, we 
enquire with equal surprise, what graves they are out of which 
they were to arise and come forth? Surely not- the grave of a 
carnal mind : as this cannot be supposed to be the condition of 
the good in no age of the earth ; a resurrection of temporal moral 
character, cannot be supposed as applicable to their condition, as 
it is to that of the wicked. It is clear, therefore, that the time 
alluded to by the Saviour, when all that are in their graves* of 
the earth, shall hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth, 
is to be the end of the world ; and that the graves there named, 
are the real literal graves of all the dead, which are finally to give 
up the prisoners. 

But as a further proof of a day of judgment to take place at the 
end of the world, we give the account, as written by St. Luke, 
(x. 10, 12, 14,) respecting certain remarks the Saviour made to 
the seventy disciples, when he sent them out to preach, and to 
heal the sick, and to say to the people that the kingdom of heaven 
was come nigh to them. These remarks were as follows : " But 
into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your 
ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very 
dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against 
you : But I say unty you, that it shall be wore tolerable in that 
day for j&tfdom than for that city." And as it respects what is 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 317 

meant by the words ' that day 1 — as in the above text — it is ex- 
plained in the 14th verse, as follows : " Bat it shall be more tol- 
erable for Tyre and. Sidon at the judgment, than for you." 
Thus we see that in the judgment, the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and 
Gomorrah, or the inhabitants thereof, are to be dealt with less 
severe than the inhabitants of such cities as should reject and 
scorn those disciples he was then sending out. Now as Sodom 
and Gomorrah at that very time, had been destroyed by fire from 
above, nearly two thousand years, and then lay beneath the hor- 
rid waters of the Dead Sea, which yet remains ; by what mode 
of reasoning can it be shown, that such a denouncement can be 
fulfilled, if there is to be no day of judgment at the end of time, 
or the end of the world. 

From this statement, it certainly appears that the people of 
Sodom, who were destroyed by fire, and according to St. Jude, 
were in his time suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, are yet 
to appear at the judgment, at which time, according to St. Luke, 
they are to be dealt with less severely than the people of the 
cities, who should reject the preaching of the seventy disciples. 
Now unless this is to be the fact, where is the sense of the Sa- 
viour's remark, when putting it in the future, he says, it shall be 
more tolerable for Sodom, in that day. than for that city 1 Can 
it be shown that Sodom, since the day of its ruin by fire, has 
been brought into judgment, in any way whatever, and less 
severely deak with, than the cities which may have rejected the 
disciples' preaching ? Yv r e think it cannot be shown : and if it 
cannot, then the day of judgment, of which Christ spoke, is yet 
to take place. It is impossible to be shown that Sodom, at the 
time Jerusalem was destroyed, was brought to view, in any 
sense : while it is easy to be shown, that Sodom was far worse 
dealt with, when it was overwhelmed and burned by fire, and 
the very country where it stood, with its sister cities, sunk down 
into the earth, and was buried beneath the bituminous waters of 
the lake Asphaltites, and the inhabitants doomed to suffer the 
vengeance of eternal fire. The temporal doom of the Jews can- 
not be compared with this; as their country was left, and rem- 
nants of the city yet remains, and a promise that they shall as a 
nation, yet return to inhabit that country, as commonly believed. 
Now if the destruction of Jerusalem, is all the day of judgment 
there is to be, and in that circumstance, was fulfilled all that is 
said in the New Testament about such a day, then it is clear 
that the statement of Jesus Christ, is not likely to be fulfilled ; as 
there never can come a time, when Sodom can be less severely 
dealt with, than such cities as rejected the preaching of his dis- 
ciples, and there never can come a time, period, or day, when 
such cities can be more severely dealt with than Sodom and 
Gomorrah were, except the .final judgment. There is a final 
judgment to come, when hades itself— the pla<*e in which de- 



318 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



parted sinners are in a state of partial punishment in the invisible 
world — shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, with all 
it contains, which is the second death. Rev. xx. 14. 

Thus we believe we have maintained the Bible doctrine of a 
day of judgment to come, in which the whole human race are 
interested, different from that of the destruction of Jerusalem ; as 
well also, that there is a dreadful hell of fire and brimstone, situ- 
ated somewhere in boundless space, into which all the wicked, 
not only of this globs, but of all others which may have fallen, 
together with the worlds on which they have lived, shall be cast 
from time to time, as their respective days of judgment will take 
place, as before argued. 



An Enquiry respecting how Satan and Evil Spirits were 
Worshipped in Ancient Times; with further Proof of 
the real Existence of such Beings. 

The influence of Satan previous to the coming of Jesus Christ 
into the world, was far greater than since that time. We may 
not doubt this, as it is not conjecture, when we say all the na- 
tions of the globe, except the Jews, hundreds of years before the 
time of St. Paul, did under various forms and modes, worship 
the devil, and evil spirits, who had become true enough, as is 
written by St. Paul to the Corinthians, 2d Epistle, iv. 4, — that 
" The god of this world (the devil) hath blinded the minds of 
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of 
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them ;" and 
had them under his influence. St. Paul understood this subject 
perfectly, as he had travelled much among heathen nations, and 
was a man of great erudition, knowing the manners and customs 
of the nations in Asia, Africa, and Europe, in those early times, 
who says expressly that the Gentiles worshipped devils ; see 1st 
Cor. x. 21, 22 : « But 1 say unto you, that the things which the 
Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto devils, and not unto God. 
And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye 
cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: 
ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of 
devils." 

But in relation to the worship of devils, as stated by St. Paul, 
above quoted, it may be enquired, hoio this was done ; and how 
the attention of men became so exclusively appropriated to the 
service and veneration of Satan and evil spirits, in those early 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 319 

ages of the earth ? To this it is replied, that they secured the 
worship and veneration of men, not by becoming visible, and 
putting ®n forms of hideous and repulsive shapes, or of any other, 
but by securing the passions of the soul, its affections, appetites, 
and animal desires, so as in their gratification to be driven beyond 
the requirements of nature, excelling the bounds which are mark- 
ed out by the Creator — which bounds were intended to facilitate 
a state of social happiness, in the use and exercise of virtuous 
affections, desires, and appetites. 

But under the direction and influence of Satan, these became 
deified among men, and were represented by various images, 
which were fashioned after the supposed forms of beings, which 
were imagined to be the governors or- controllers of that class of 
appetites and passions which the images resembled, in distinction 
from all the rest ; so that man, soul and body, became struck out 
into districts, cantons and parishes, and placed under appropriate, 
or congenial demons, or genii, as their guides, or tutelar spirits. 
This is the reason why the passions of anger, cruelty, revenge, 
and the love of power, became the god of war, and of bloodshed, 
Mars, was the name of this god, among some of the ancient 
nations, whose image was made, so as to present all the linea- 
ments of countenance and attitude best calculated to describe 
those passions. His frame was of Herculean size — distorted, 
with muscular angry attitudes — a face of flame — with dishevelled 
hair — eyes glaring with fury — every lineament and limb on the 
stretch, as if hurried by internal lightnings ; while he held a 
torch of flames, to set on fire the nations with wrath and war 
against each other, as he sped his way in a whirlwind around 
the earth : the image of this passion was the god of war. The 
appetite of drunkenness and intemperance furnished the image of 
mirth and hilarity ; whose countenance was flushed with wine, 
as he revelled among the vines and the foliage of the grape ; in 
whose temples every extravagance of which human nature and 
the bad passions let loose, are capable, were perpetrated: the 
name of this god was Bacchus — the god of drunkenness and 
glutony. The passion of love, furnished to many nations va- 
rious images of a beautiful and magnificent female, who was 
adored as a goddess — under whose auspices, and to whose 
honor, immense temples were erected, in which the contrary of 
all virtue and chastity, became deeds of piety and acts of devo- 
tion, and a branch of the religion of the nations, whose influence 
in opposing the true happiness of mankind, in a social sense, 
cannot be calculated. The planet Yenus, a beautiful star of the 
heavens, is to this day the representative of this idea, — as well 
as the planet Mars is that of war. But under the government of 
God, as published from heaven, to Adam and the patriarchs, and 
as finally embodied in the Bible, the books of the Old and New 
Testament, — that passion, namely, connubiality, is made to be 



320 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

productive of a vast amount of social happiness to the human 
race, in the institution of marriage. Out of this trait of divine 
wisdom, arises the distinction of families, neighborhoods, com- 
munities, nations and governments, with all the improvements 
In human society, both of arts and science, as well as of morals 
and religious virtue. But by its prostitution, all these mercies 
are annihilated, anarchy ensues, the ties of virtuous love and 
social order, whether of families, neighborhoods, or nations, 
are dashed into ruin ; while headlong furious licentiousness, and 
lust, as a stream broad and deep, with the wreck of ages, plunges 
onward from cataract to cataract, till lost in the depths of fathom* 
less ruin. 

" The establishment of the worship of devils, (as invisible 
beings) so general in some form, throughout a great 'part of 
the heathen world, is at once a painful and a curious subject, 
and deserves a more careful investigation than it has as yet re* 
ceived. In modern times, devil-worship is seen systematized in 
Ceylon, Burmah, and in many parts of the East Indies ; and an 
order of devil-priests exists, though contrary to the Budhist reli- 
gion, against the temples ot which it sets up rival altars." — Wat- 
son's Dictionary, page 305. 

The same author, in the same work, and the same page, says 
that even now, in and about the countiy of ancient Ninevah and 
Bagdad, are found a people who worship the devil as a being, 
who they say has a quarrel against the Supreme Being ; whose 
customs and ceremonies in their worship is very horrid. They 
justify themselves on the ground that Satan, the object of their 
veneration, is ere long to receive a full pardon for his sins, and 
then himself and his followers are to be taken to heaven together. 
This ground of hope they consider much safer than to trust to 
their own merits, as is the confidence and faith of the other 
pagan religions of that country. The person of the devil they 
look upon as sacred, and when they affirm anything solemnly, 
they do it by his name. These people at Ninevah and Bagdad, 
who are devil- worshippers, were once, or rather first of all, Chris- 
tians, then Mahometans, and lastly worshippers of Satan ; they 
are barbarians, uncuitivatecl and miserable heathen. But how 
came they by the belief of a devil at all ? We reply, from the 
New Testament, which they once had among them; or they 
received it from the first disciples, in the first ages of Christianity ; 
who everywhere taught the real personal existence of Satan, and 
of other evil spirits, as opposed to the gospel of Christ, the same 
as that book now teaches. 

The grand policy of Satan and of evil spirits, the direct oppo- 
sers of all good, and of all happiness which is reasonable, temper- 
ate, and virtuous, is now, and ever has been, to derange and 
destroy, by corrupting the minds of free agents; and having got 
access by way of the fall, to the passions of the human soul, have 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 321 

entrenched themselves there, by appropriating them, so far as 
deception, delusion, and falsehood can do, to their own ruinious 
purposes, out of malice to God ; glorying in producing wretch- 
edness and misery among his works in that way, as there is no 
other in which they are permitted to operate. And as a climax 
of the appropriation of the passions to the purposes of sin and 
confusion, images of the passions were invented, by which they 
became visible, and therefore the more seducing, infatuating the 
minds of both male and female, to that degree that the most ex- 
travagant and obscene behaviour, in the temples of their gods, 
was esteemed as acts of devotion and religions virtues, putting 
moral darkness for light, and moral bitter for sweet, in the most 
glaring sense. This is the very reason why idolatry, the most 
foolish thing ever invented or practised among men, was in the 
ancient ages, and is even now, in many heathen countries, so in- 
toxicating to the imagination, and so fixes itself in the corrupted 
and misled minds of image-worshippers. This was the very rea- 
son why the Jews, during their early history, were so frequently 
misled by their pagan neighbors, and induced to forsake the 
chaste and refined worship of the Creator, as instituted among 
them by Moses, for that which gave immediate animal happi- 
ness. To these passion-gods, images, in process of time, were 
consecrated, temples of great magnificence were built, orders of 
priests were created, and sacrifices ordained to be made to them, 
and celebrated with lascivious rites, addressed to the invisible 
powers, who were supposed to preside over the passions. And 
these invisible powers and beings thus propitiated and worship- 
ed, were the very devils to which St. Paul alludes when he says, 
they sacrificed to devils or evil spirits. We might here relate 
many strange things respecting the modes of evoking evil spirits 
as practised by nations who practice necromancy, and of the ef- 
fects of such evocations ; but we desist, as we do not aim in this 
work at the publication of such abominations, but only to show 
the Scripture allusion to such practices and such beings. 

Now by the coming of Christ into the world, and by his over- 
coming Satan, in his trial with him in the wilderness, and by the 
introduction of a system of holiness among men, Satan began to 
lose his hold of the worship and veneration of men, through the 
avenues of the passions ; on which account, when the seventy 
disciples had returned, and were relating to the Saviour how 
that evil spirits were subject to them, through his name, he re- 
plied, that he saw Satan, as lightning, fall from heaven — the ele- 
vation he had hitherto possessed in the worship and veneration 
of men, no more to rise to the same universal height, and should 
continue to fall till the worship of the true God, the Creator, 
should be established in all the world. But did the Saviour see 
him fall visibly? The text, (see Luke x. 18,) says he did: 

22 



322 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

« And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from 
heaven." Now as it is said of Satan that he is the power and 
the prince of the air, Christ might, in the most visible manner,, 
have seen him fall from the heights of the atmosphere to the earth 
as a token to himself, that ere long he must be east down to hell 
in a manner equally apparent and visible to spiritual beings. 
What were they which ths seventy disciples said were subject to 
his name, which they called the devils, and which the Saviour 
in reply said were spirits 7 Were these the mere passions of the 
soul of man, or the diseases of his body,, or both I We think not r 
as a spiiit cannot be called a passion. In Acts v. 3, is a remark- 
able case, which goes to prove the being of Satan 7 found in the 
words of Peter to a member of the church at that time, as fol- 
lows : " Annanias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to 
the Holy Ghost ?" On this text we have the following from the 
pen of Adam Clarke : "It was a common belief, as well among 
the heathen as among the Jews and Christians, that when a man 
did evil, that he was excited thereto by the influence and malice 
of an evil spirit. The words of St. Peter here prove that such 
an agency is not a fiction. If there had been no Satan, as some 
wish, and perhaps feel it their interest to believe, or if Shis Satan 
or devil, had no influence on the souls of men, Peter,, under the 
influence of the Holy Ghost, would not have expressed himself 
in such a way; for if the thing were not so, it was the most di- 
rect way to have led the disciples to a false opinion on this sub- 
ject, and to confirm them in an old and absurd prejudice. 77 

But so was not the fact, as it was not an old and absurd pre- 
judice, but an old and well established truth • as old as from the 
fall of Adam ; or the mission of the Son of God among men was 
without object, aim or consequence ; as his professed and chief 
object was to destroy the devil and his works in the earth — see 
John, iii. 8: "For this purpose the Son of God was manifest, 
that he might destroy the works of the devil." And Heb. ii. 14: 
" That through death he (Christ) might destroy him that had 
the power of death, that is the devil p which, however, is entirely 
false, except there is a devil. If there is no personal devil r how 
is it that St. Paul speaks of him in the singular number, him that 
hath the power of death ? This is very strrnge r if the Apostle 
only meant to say Christ came into the world to destroy the bad 
passions of men, and in a few, to cure the diseases of the body. 
But the Apostle is still more singular, when he says this devil or 
Satan, had the power of death, if we are to understand by it 
nothing but the bad passions of fallen nature, especially if we 
believe as Universalists do, which is, that all the passions of the 
soul were produced by the Creator ; as this idea would ascer- 
tain God as the author of this very devil which he has sent his 
Son into the world to destroy ; so that God is found operating 
against his own work, namely, human nature, in which is situ- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES, 323 

&ted the carnal mind. But this being is equally brought to view 
in the following, as in the above Scripture — see 2d Cor. ii. 11 — 
u Lest Satan should get an advantage over us j for we are not 
ignorant of his devices." 

Are we to believe that St. Paul's remarks, as above noticed, 
were for the purpose of putting the disciples in all the churches 
among the Jews and Gentiles, upon their guard against catching 
some kind of disease of body or mind, then prevalent among the 
people ? Certainly ', we are thus to understand him, if he had 
no allusion to any other devil than those diseases, the lusts and 
passions of human nature — with the wiles and devices of whom 
ihe Christians were well acquainted at that time. The carnal 
mind, its diseases, and the diseases of the body, however, we 
should think could not be spoken of by so highly an educated 
man as was St Paul, under the idea of a person, as he has, by 
saying, we are not ignorant of his devices, without violence to 
the language in which he wrote, as pluralities are not represent- 
ed in any language by the singular. 

In the same epistle, 2d Cor. xii. 7, the same Apostle speaks of 
the same being, and calls him Satan ; who, it appears, was per- 
mitted to afflict St. Paul with some grievous disease, of which he 
says, " and lest I should be exalted above measure, through the 
abundance of the revelation, there was given to me a thorn m 
the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me." But some 
have imagined, that this thorn in Paul's flesh, was the preaching 
of a certain minister, who opposed him at Corinth, by adultera- 
ting the gospel with heresies and untenable dogmas, on which 
account he is supposed to have been grievously afflicted. But if 
this were so, he could not have been a thorn in his flesh, but in 
his mind only - and more than this, he could not have called it 
his infirmity, nor have gloried in it, unless we can suppose he 
would glory in a wicked opposition to himself and the gospel. 
It couJd not have been any false accuser or slanderer, as in such 
a case he could not have said it was an infirmity of his own flesh 
and that he gloried in it, as he could not have gloried in being 
falsely accused. It could not have been a slanderer and a tra- 
ducer of the gospel, as that would have been a heinous sin, com- 
mitted against God ; on which account the Apostle could never 
have said that he gloried in it, nor could he have called it his 
own infirmity, or sin. 

That this thorn in his flesh was a disease in his own body, 
appears from the statement which he made respecting his prayer 
to God about it, which was, that " for this thing I besought the 
Lord thrice that it might depart from me." Now could he 
'have called an accuser, a slanderer, or an opposer of the gospel 
a thing, as a thing is not a person ? Neither could he have 
spoken of a person of that description, nor of any other descrip- 
tion, by the monosyllable it, as it is not a person in any case 



324 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

But if we allow this thorn in his flesh to have been a disease of 
some kind, then the words it and thing are properly used in re- 
lation to it, and not otherwise. Now if the Divine"Being did not 
see fit to remove this thorn, against which he had prayed of set 
purpose most earnestly, no less than thrice, with what propriety 
he could say, " most gladly, therefore, will I glory in mine infir- 
mities" of body, or bodily weakness, as thereby the power of 
Christ might rest upon him, or be the more manifest. If it be 
said that this infirmity, this thorn, the messenger of Satan, was 
the depraved nature of St. Paul, in common with all other men, 
who are not regenerated, then it follows that God would not 
sanctify him from all sin, which he has promised to do to all 
who ask him, and makes the Apostle to say, that most gladly he 
gloried in his depravity and evil dispositions of mind, so that the 
power of Christ might be manifest in him ; which would be a 
contradiction, as the power of Christ consists in the sanctifica- 
tion of the mind, and not in compelling the soul to remain in 
its sins and pollutions. 

There, is therefore but one way to solve the problem, and that 
is, to allow that there is a Satan, the same who misled Eve, 
accused Job, tempted or tried the Saviour in the wilderness, en- 
tered into Judas Iscariot, desired to have Peter that he might sift 
him as wheat, deceives the whole world, and was permitted to 
buffet St. Paul, with the infliction of some grievous sore in his 
body, called a thorn in his flesh, or the messenger of Satan, and 
would have killed the Apostle, as he would have killed Job, had 
he not been restrained. 

That there is such a being is still further shown, 2d Thess. ii. 
2, 4, 9, where St. Paul is showing beforehand the rise and com- 
ing of a character which he denominates the man of sin , which 
should exalt himself above all earthly power, and even above 
God himself, so that he as God would sit in the temple of God, 
the Christian church, showing himself that he is God on earth. 
But the peculiar method by which he should rise to such power 
in and over the church, as to claim the worship, obedience and 
veneration of its members, should be by signs and lying won- 
ders, after the working of Satan, with all deceivableness of un- 
righteousness. But if there is no Satan, or devil, who is the fa- 
ther of lies, whose intellectual powers are greater than those of 
men, how is it that the Apostle has not stated the case according 
to truth, which he has not, if Universalists are right ? He should 
have said that this man of sin, whatever it was or is, should rise 
into power, by and after the working of human nature, or the 
carnal mind, instead of Satan ; which name, in no language, is 
put for human nature, and therefore cannot be descriptive of hu- 
man nature, nor of its passions, however bad they are, 

The Apostle states, that the coming of this man of sin, should 
be after, or like the working of Satan : by which we perceive 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 325 

he cannot mean human nature, as it would be foolishness to say 
that human nature was like itself, as this method could afford 
no data of comparison ; as we see there is between this man ot 
sin and Satan. The result is, therefore, that there is such a 
being- as Satan, distinct from human nature and human passion 
and exists after a different manner or mode. 

In the book of Revelations we find this being spoken of in 
such a manner as is impossible to be interpreted of a disease, ei- 
ther of body or mind — of any human being-, or of the bad pas- 
sions of human beings, which existed in the days of Paul, or in 
any age or nation of the earth. We will give the quotations, 
and leave the reader to judge". (See Rev. xx., 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10.) 
" And I saw (prospectively) an angel come doivn from heaven, 
having the key (knowledge how to bind such a being) of the 
bottomless pit, (hell) and a great chain (power) in his hand. 
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the 
devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (which time 
will be the milleneum.) And cast him into the bottomless pit, 
(endless in duration) and shut him up, and set a seal upon him 
that he should deceive (deception can be practised only by an 
intellectual being) the nations no more till the thousand years 
(the milleneum) should be fulfilled, and after that he must be 
loosed for a little season, (a few years to try such as shall be born 
during the time of the milleneum, as there will be no sin in the 
earth during that period.) And when the thousand years are 
(shall have) expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and 
shall go out to deceive the nations which are (or shall be) in the 
four quarters of the earth. And the devil that deceived them 
was (is to be) cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, (hell) 
where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be torment- 
ed day and night, forever and ever." 

But if the foregoing is not to be„ literally fulfilled, how extra- 
ordinary is all this. Can it be that the divine inspiration should 
indite in the heart of his Apostle, a matter so calculated to estab- 
lish beyond all doubt so dreadful an error? — a fiction so magni- 
ficently foolish, as of the existence of a being which does not 
exist at all. Can it be that God would interest himself to es- 
tablish this fiction in the world, and then, on the ground of this 
very fiction to get a great name among men, by pretending to 
overcome this non-existence? — which, however, he has done, if 
there is no such being as Satan, who is of a nature and mode of 
being different from that of man. If indeed it were true, that 
this Satan, of which the Revelator has here given such a cir- 
cumstantial account, was some slanderer, accuser or adversary, 
or enemy of Christianity, in the time of St. John, to whom he 
has here alluded, t there is then a mighty difficulty to get over, 
as it is impossible to point out the man, person or character, and 
to show when and where he was put, when put into the place 



326 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

called a bottomless pit, for the long space of a thousand years, 
and then let out again. Or if it be supposed to mean the united 
operation of a succession of wicked emperors or powers engaged 
against Christianity, the same difficulty arises, as in the case of 
one man, because he that believes it, must show, for his own sa- 
tisfaction, how they were shut up a thousand years, as said by 
the Revelator, and then let out again : which we think is not 
possible. Or, if it be imagined that this Satan, old dragon, ser- 
pent, or devil, signifies the sinful nature of man, taken collect- 
ively, as existing in the whole race, and is here personified, and 
named Satan, the difficulty still continues, because he that be- 
lieves it must show, for his own satisfaction, when human na- 
ture was thus the victim of the divine vengeance ; and how and 
when thus shut up in a pit a thousand years, and then let out 
again. Or, if the description is considered as wholly figurative, 
the difficulty still remains, which consists in making out what it 
signifies : what it was that was to be shut up a thousand years, 
and then let out again, which took the power and knowledge of 
a mighty figurative angel from heaven to accomplish. But if 
the account is received as literal, then, with the utmost propriety 
it can be conceived of, that a spiritual being, such as Satan is 
described to be in all parts of the Bible where he is spoken of, 
can be seized upon by such a being as a mighty angel from hea- 
ven, and confined wheresoever the Divine Being shall or has ap- 
pointed, and can allow his release for a time, at the end of the 
thousand years, as it is written he will do. 

Thus we have shown how devils were worshipped in ancient 
times, and in what manner they acquired the veneration and 
fear of men, as well also as further proofs of his real being. "We 
now hasten to other matters, of an equally interesting nature. 



An Enquiry as to the Cause of Sickness, Diseases, and 
Death ; is it of God or Satan 7 with other Curious Matters. 

In this place, we think it not amiss to venture a few remarks 
on the real cause of the disease, sickness and death of the human 
race ; a subject, perhaps, not so frequently a matter of reflection 
as are many others. We are apt to say, when any one is afflict- 
ed, diseased, distressed, tormented, or dead, that the Lord has 
done it, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Now, 
this is right to say and to believe, if we speak of it, and believe, 
respecting it, according to truth, and a right understanding of 
the subject. With this view, a right understanding of the mat- 
ter, we ask the following questions : — Is there sin in existence ? 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 327 

It is answered yes. Was God the cause of it 7 It is answered 
no ; for if he was, then sin is not sin, as God can do no sin, nor 
be its cause, direct nor indirect, immediate or remote. What 
then was the first cause of sin ? It is answered, Satan or the 
devil was its cause, and originated the first sin. This is believed 
by all Christendom, with the exception of a few sects, who have 
indeed discovered the exact contrary, inasmuch as they say there 
is no Satan or devil, as is commonly believed ; by which they 
make God the author of sin, if indeed there is any sin on that 
view of the subject, in the world. But as held by others, and as 
established by the Scriptures, it is plain that the devil was the 
author of sin. If the devil then, is the originator of sin, then is 
not the devil the true cause of the diseases and death of the hu- 
man race ? as it was that evil being who misled our first mother 
to sin, on which account death entered into the world and has 
passed upon all men, because that ail have sinned in our first 
head, Adam and Eve. 

But God is the author of life, and not of death, among intel- 
lectual beings, and everywhere as in our earth, so far as is 
consistent, counteracts death and diseases, and will finally so 
counteract, as to destroy both death and its cause, which is the 
devil, who has the power of death, so far as it relates to the bodies 
and the souls of the righteous after this life. But as Satan, who 
induced the sin of Eve and her husband, thereby obtained a 
right to kill the human race with temporal death, cannot now, 
consistent with the government of God be prevented ; but will 
continue to exert this power and right till the age of the earth, or 
the probationary state of man shall be completed. It was on ac- 
count of this right, obtained however wickedly, in seducing the 
mind of Eve, and by her as a means, the mind of Adam, that it 
was appointed unto man once to die, there having entered by sin 
the seeds of death, and final dissolution of the organized part of 
our race, to wit, the body of man. It is true, however, that as 
man's body was formed of the dust of the earth, and was made 
dependant for its continuance in health and undying condition, 
upon various means, as food, water, clothing, breath and other 
circumstances ; that if those means should have been withdrawn 
death would have been the consequence, even if sin had not en- 
tered into the world at all. But against this natural tendency to 
dissolution, God in his providence, fixed appetites, and the love 
of life ; while himself was engaged to prevent all fatal accidents, 
so that death could not have entered if sin had not been com- 
mitted ; but sin being committed, gave the devil, who has the 
power of death, the right to kill the human race, as before re- 
marked. We do not forget, however, that the idea of death had 
been suggested by the Divine Being when he gave the law to 
Adam and Eve respecting the tree of knowledge ; which was 
the very time when death was conditionally ordained or appoint- 



328 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

ed, and depended for its existence in fact, en a breach of God's 
holy law, which breach God did not sanction ; so that death is 
properly and originally of the devil, and not of God, any more 
than sin was. _ At the moment of the transgression, our first pa- 
rents were struck with death.and commenced their descent toward 
the grave, having forfeited the peculiar providence of God in the 
use of the fruit of the tree of life, and in preventing the occurrence 
of fatal accidents, so that in a few years he returned to dust, from 
whence he came. At the same moment, that of the breach of the 
law, Adam and Eve became also exposed to eternal death, from 
which there could have been no escape, except there hacUbeen 
found a ransom beforehand, namely, the seed of the woman, 
which ere long was to be announced to them, as the reason of the 
continuance of their natural or animal lives, as well also as that 
of a chance to escape by that same seed, the eternal death of both 
soul and body in hell, which is called in the Scripture the second 
death. Had it not been for this Redeemer, who was esteemed of 
God as slain from the very foundation of the world — Rev. xiii. 
8 — Adam and Eve would have been instantly damned, and sent 
into hades, till such time as God should have seen fit to cast this 
earth into the lake of fire and brimstone, its final destiny, where 
the devil and his angels, are at the end of the world also to arrive, 
as stated by Matthew, xxv. 41. This would forever have pre- 
vented the existence of the human race by Adam and Eve, as 
surely as the drying up of a fountain destroys the stream which 
might flow from it : Satan, therefore, was the cause of death, but 
God the cause of life, both animal and moral, both originally 
and when both kinds of life were forfeited and lost in the sin of 
our first parents, they were restored in Christ the Redeemer, so 
that every way he is the author of life and health, but never of 
death, moral or temporal. 

"Wedo not forget, however, that when Job had suffered the 
loss of not only his property, but that of all his children by death, 
that he replied, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, 
blessed be the name of the Lord ; yet this does not establish it as 
being done by the Almighty ; when we know it was done by 
Satan, who had the divine permission to take the lives of Job's 
children, who for aught that can be objected, had in some way 
by acts unknown to their father, forfeited their lives to the just 
judgment of an avenging providence ; on which account, Satan 
had a right to destroy them if they had rejected all opportunities 
of amendment and repentance, till forbearance in the Divine 
Being was no longer consistent. This, no doubt, is an eternal 
rule of the divine government, that when forbearance and a 
lenient state of circumstances are without effect to produce piety 
and moral excellence, that such -lenient circumstances must, of 
necessity, be abrogated, or the divine government becomes a 
coadjutor to sin. And if abrogated, then severity, without mix- 






ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 329 

ture of lenity or mercy, succeeds ; as it is impossible to be other- 
wise, without supposing the Divine Government indifferent to 
moral evil — which would be blasphemy even to suppose. But 
does not God know beforehand, the inefficiency, in thousands of 
instances, of lenient circumstances, to produce moral virtue ? 
Most assuredly; — yet as intellectual beings are created, and 
created free, they must be dealt with as such, or God himself 
could not maintain his justice of character, nor his Divine Gov- 
ernment, — as any other condition of affairs would destroy the 
very idea of Divine Government altogether. 

But there are many who believe that death was originally 
designed, and intended to take away from the earth its over 
increase of human population — which, of necessity, would take 
place, on the ground of uninterrupted propagation— and there- 
fore, that death takes place according to the order of nature, the 
same as the death of the animal and vegetable kingdoms ; and 
was not occasioned by the sin of our first parents, as generally 
believed. But this opinion is rejected, when we perceive that 
sickness, misery, pain and sorrow, are the paths which lead to 
death, — all of which, are afflictions of the most acute descrip- 
tions, and never therefore, could have been the original order, in 
the Creation of God ; which opinion is justified by the express 
statement of the Creator, who says, "He doth not willingly 
afflict, nor grieve the children of men." " Out of the mouth of 
the Most High proceedeth not evil and good." Lam. iii. 33, 38. 
From which, we conclude, that from his hand as a benevolent and 
consistent being, there does not proceed both evil and good, but 
good only ; and that wherever evil is found of a physical char- 
acter, amoiig the human race, it is to be traced to sin, as the 
cause, which is often ascertained and felt, as the natural conse- 
quence of evil courses ; while also not unfrequently, evil spirits, 
even the very devil himself, is permitted to administer in his own 
way— as in the case of Job, and as he desired to do with Peter, 
but was not allowed. Death counteracts life, and therefore, 
cannot have God for its author, as such a proceedure were con- 
fusion on the very face of the subject. We know very well 
however, that if some loay were not originally designed to 
remove from the earth's surface, the human race, as its numbers 
should become too great for their convenience, as most certainly 
would have been the case, that there must have ensued dis- 
order, confusion, and finally death, even if sin had never have 
been committed by one individual of the race. There is no way 
to avoi4 this conclusion, as every located tangible being, must 
have not only room to subsist in, but the means to subsist by. 
But if the human race had gone on to increase their numbers 
according to the original blessing, which was not only to subdue 
but also to replenish the earth with human beings, there would 

23 



330 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



have transpired but a few ages, when the earth would have been 
so over peopled that sufficient food and room could not been found 
to accommodate them. But as a preventive to such a state of 
things — without calling in the aid of the destroyer — the transla- 
tion of the human race to heaven, in such numbers as should 
opportunely prevent any such catastrophe, would have been 
resorted to. The entire translation of body and soul, from earth 
to heaven, from a tangible and gross condition, to one of a sub- 
limated and superior nature, the same as the bodies of Enoch 
and Elijah, would have taken place, and that in numbers, and 
at periods, as would have best suited the happines of all. This 
is as easily conceived of, and as easily believed, as that at the 
time of the last resurrection, all such persons .as shall then be on 
the earth, and shall be righteous who have not died, shall be 
changed in the twinkling of an eye, and caught up into the air 
to be forever with the Lord. 1st Cor. xv. 51, 1st Thess. iv. 17. 
Now this will be the translation of body and soul, to all intents 
and purposes, the same — specifically the same, as would have 
been the case of all the inhabitants of the earth, as long as God 
would have seen fit to have continued the globe in being, had 
not sin entered our world and prevented this original order and 
intention of the Divine Being. 

But some may enquire, — was God therefore, disappointed be- 
cause his intention in this respect, was thwarted ? We answer, 
by no means ; as such a thing is impossible : as we do not 
believe that the Divine Being has arbitrarily intended or fixed 
anything as indubitably certain, which is left to the volitions of 
free agents ; on which account, however contrary we may act 
to divine direction, God is not disappointed ; as all that class of 
occurrences and consequences which arise out of the acts of free 
agents, are not arbitrarily fixed by the divine decree or power ; 
which were it so, would fix all things in fate, and prevent the 
possibility of moral government at all, and nullify the whoie pro- 
ceedure of the Almighty, in his universe of intellectual beings. 
The occurrence of death, therefore, is no disappointment to God, 
though his good intentions are thereby thwarted, in relation to 
intellectual free agents. For who can tell the amount of enjoy- 
ment the human race have lost by having fallen into sin through 
Adam, even in this life, besides the pain, ignominy and horrors of 
dying, and the long lapse of putrifaction, silence and inertness of 
the body, to take place from the time of our death till our resur- 
rection at the last day, together with the liability of being damned 
in hell, on account of our own offences. All this would have 
been prevented, if our moral as well as temporal representative 
had kept his first estate. Who had not rather, if it were now 
possible, be translated to a superior state in the supernatural 
world, in the twinkling of an eye, than to pass through some dole- 
ful sickness, or mangling accident, down to the grave, and there 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 331 

to lie many ages, to be tossed here and there by the diggers of 
earth, as is often the case, and perhaps be moulded into bricks, 
and other uses to the living ? Who had not rather gain all this 
time thus lost to the body, and enjoy it in a happy existence, 
actively employed in the mystic evolutions of the operations of 
industrious heaven, than to be cast into darkness so great a lapse 
of ages, as may be the case 1 All this kind of good, which was 
intended in our first creation, has been thwarted by the occur- 
rence of sin, in the persons of Adam and Eve. 

A resurrection from the dead of all the human race, is the very 
evidence that God is not the author of death ; for if he is, he 
would never thus counteract his own works by a resurrection, 
when, translation without the evil, the pain, and dishonor of 
death, would have, in a most glorious manner, produced the 
transition from earth to a celestial condition, in correspondence 
with a perpetuity of being, the inheritance of every intellectual 
creature of the universe, much better than to have passed thither 
through the gloomy horrors of a corporeal dissolution. There 
never was a more preposterous idea propagated, than that death 
is according to the original will of God, and everywhere takes 
place, according to the first and primeval order of nature, as it 
respected the race of man. Accordingly, from the good and 
benevolent nature of the Supreme Being, not an instant of time 
would be allowed to pass, ere pain, sickness and death, would 
be abolished from the earth, were it consistent, and the original 
plan go immediately into effect, that of translation from the earth 
to a spiritual condition. But so long as depravity and sin 
remain, so long will death reign ; for by sin death, temporal, 
entered into the world, and has passed upon all men, because all 
men are concluded under sin, on account of the defalcation of 
the root and fountain of the race, Adam and Eve. Sin and 
depravity, the children of Satan, is the reason why Satan has a 
right to kill the inhabitants of the earth, as these qualifications are 
the agents and representatives of himself, who have been received 
and harbored by us ; on which account we have struck hands 
with death, and chosen it for a companion, and entered into fel- 
lowship with it, and must therefore abide by it, till such time as 
God shall destroy in hell this author of death, which is the devil. 
But his power is restrained in some degree, on account of the 
atonement, which so far benefits every individual of human 
kind, as to allow them being, the blessings of animal and intel- 
lectual life, with an opportunity of obtaining salvation from sin, 
and an assurance of heaven; yet death must and will finally 
devour its victim, and hold it till the resurrection, which even 
the Divine Being cannot consistently prevent till that time. Till 
then, Satan willreign in a degree, and be a minister of distress, 
in as many cases as are possible ; yet alleviating circumstances ob- 
tained on the ground of the atonement, in the midst of sufferings 



332 



HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 



are dispensed ; while it appears, that the atonement, as great a$ 
it is, cannot, till the round of certain periods, completely triumph 
over this destroyer. 

That Satan is the sole cause of misery to the human race, 
we further prove from Luke, xiii. 16, as follows : " Ought not 
this woman, (said the Saviour,) being a daughter of Abraham, 
whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, (to) be loosed 
from this bond ?" from which he then set her free, so that she 
immediately walked erect and strong. On this subject we have 
the following from the pen of Adam Clarke : " The woman's 
infirmity, what was its origin ? Sin. Had this never entered 
the world, there had been neither pain, distortion or death. 
Who was the principal in it ? Satan ; and demons have often 
acted in and on the persons of men and women ; and it is not 
impossible that the principle part of unaccountable and inexpli- 
cable disorders, still come from that source." 

In pursuance of this fact, that of Satan's having wickedly 
obtained a right to afflict the children of men, in certain degrees, 
and under certain limited conditions; which conditions are 
known to the invisible powers of both the good and the bad in 
another world ; we have not a doubt but he had requested of our 
Lord, at a certain time, the privilege of tormenting Peter, the 
disciple of Christ, out of the ordinary way of human troubles, 
and in some very awful manner. We found our opinion res- 
pecting this, on the extraordinary announcement of the Saviour 
to that disciple, found Luke, xxii. 31 : "And the Lord said 
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he 
may sift you as wheat." By which we understand, Satan desired 
to torment Peter, as he did poor Job, with the view of not only 
causing him to apostatize from Christianity, but to torment him 
with some dreadful disease in his flesh and mind, or both. Was 
it Peter's carnal mind, which had desired to sift him as wheat ? 
and yet Peter, it seems, knew nothing about it until Christ in- 
formed him of it, saying, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to 
have you ; this must have been the fact, however, if Universal- 
ists are right on the subject of there being no devil but that of 
the human spirit. 

Does not this notice of Satan by our Lord, prove beyond all 
contradiction, the real being of such a spirit? for in this case 
there was no sickness, no derangement of body or of mind, no 
wickedness, reproved in Peter, nor any slanderer or accuser of 
that disciple mentioned ; but simply this, that Satan had desired 
to sift him by afflictions, as a farmer sifts his wheat in the wind, 
with great commotion and violence. Is it possible for desire to 
exist independent of being ? We think not ; yet here is a case 
of desire independent of any being, except it is allowed that 
Satan wa*s that being, who originated that desire. Who ever 
heard of thought or desire existing in an abstract condition from 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 333 

that of being ? If the thing is impossible, it follows, therefore, 
that Satan, who desired to have Peter, was possessed of mind, 
and mind is being, and being is existence, which identifies the 
being called Satan, in that text, as a mental, conscious, thinking 
creature ; and is all the evidence by which the identity of any 
being whatever can be ascertained, who are of an intellectual 
cast. This being, therefore, was the devil, whose ways and 
whose thoughts and desires were not hidden from the omniscient 
eye of God, to whom the thoughts of all the spiritual beings of 
eternity, are and were always open, as well as in that case ; for 
he needed not that any one should inform him respecting the 
thoughts of spirits, any more than of the thoughts of man. That 
Satan sometimes has power, even over the bodies of good men, 
by the means of the wicked, is shown Rev. ii. 10 : " Fear none 
of those things which thou shalt suffer ; behold the devil shall 
cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried." By which 
it appears there is not a doubt but they were tried by death, as 
martyrs ; for when the Revelator wrote the above text, it was a 
time of great and dreadful persecution to the Christians, in all 
parts of the Roman empire. By which, and the foregoing, we 
are satisfied that Satan, with his evil angels, are the cause of all 
the sorrows and death of the human race, primarily, instead of 
the Divine Being. All those cases of judicial punishment by 
death, either according to the ecclesiastical law of the Jews, or 
by the immediate judgment of God, as in the case of Korah and 
his company, the false prophets slain by the hand of Elijah the 
Tishbite, in the temple of Baal, and at the brook Kishon ; and 
those one hundred in number, who were destroyed by fire from 
heaven, at the intercession of Elisha the prophet, with Annanias 
and Saphira ; the people who were drowned in the flood, and 
the Sodomites, with many other instances of the like character, 
mentioned in the Scriptures, are to be ascribed to the agency of 
evil spirits, in seducing mankind to sin against God, so that his 
providence is withdrawn, and they given over to this destroyer, 
the devil, so far at any rate, as relates to the life of the body, to 
which our remarks in this chapter are chiefly confined. But to 
close this subject, we will remark, that though Satan has, by the 
sin of our first parents, gained the power of death over our race, 
and would at one fell sweep have swept them in their federal 
head into hell, yet the atonement purchased back animal life, 
with all the ameliorating circumstances of human existence, from 
, infancy till death, with all that train of things denominated the 
providence of God among men ; but not to the exclusion of muck 
sorrow and of final death, as this was impossible, or it would have 
been done. 



334 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



On the subject of Evil Sprits, ivith Proofs of their being 
Supernatural Beings, and of their Acts among Men, still 
further than heretofore advanced in this Work ; of Simon 
Magus, and the Gnostics, fyc. 

"There was an opinion extant among the Jews, and is yet 
extant, that there was a certain fallen angel, who was called 
Malak-hamaveth, the angel of death, i. e. he who had the power 
of separating the soul from the body, when God decreed that any 
one should die. Sammael is a common name for the devil 
among the Jews ; and they have a tradition that the angel of 
death shall be destroyed by the Messiah, and that at a certain 
time Sammael said to the holy blessed God, "Lord of the world 
show me the Messiah ?" The Lord answered, come and see 
him. And when Sammael had seen him he was terrified, and 
his countenance fell, and he said, most certainly this is the Mes- 
siah, who shall cast me and all the nations into hell, as it is writ- 
ten, Isaiah, xxv. 8: The Lord shall swallow up death forever. 
This is a remarkable account, and the Apostle shows that it is 
true, for the Messiah came to destroy him who had the power of 
death, which is the devil." — Clarke. The Apostle Paul speaks 
of this being, with others of the like character, in Ephesians, vi. 
12, as follows : " Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may 
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle 
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against 
poivers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against 
spiritual wickedness in high places." That this allusion did 
not refer to kings, rulers, or powers, and combinations of men 
formed against the gospel, is evident from the Apostle's remarka- 
ble qualifying words, which are, " we wrestle not against flesh 
and blood," of which the human opponents of the religion of 
Christ were composed. And who are the rulers of the darkness 
of this world ? The answer is according to the text, that Satan 
and the subordinate demons, the nobles of his empire. " Com- 
mentators in general," says Dr. Clarke, "on these verses, believe 
that by principalities and powers, is meant the different orders of 
evil spirits, who are employed under the devil, their great leader 
and head, to prevent the spread of the gospel in the world, and 
to destroy by sin the souls of mankind ; and that they have their 
various stations in the regions of the air, all around the earth." 
" These are the spirits," says John Wesley, " who continually 
oppose faith, love, and holiness, and labor to infuse unbelief, 
pride, idolatry, lusts, malice, covetousness, envy, anger and 
hatred, into the minds of men." 

That there are many evil spirits, fallen angels, or devils, is 
shown from all parts of the New Testament ; a few of which 
we proceed to exhibit, more than already done. James, ii. 19,1 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 335 

"Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well, the 
devils believe and tremble." Now if the Jews called the idols of 
the heathen devils, as appears they did — see Deut. xxxii. 17 — 
2d Chron. xi. 15 — and Psalms, cvi. 36, 37 — yet by St. James, in 
the above text, we discover that such devils as he there speaks 
of, were no idols, or images of any description, but were in reality 
conscious beings, having a capacity of believing, of understand- 
ing, and of fearing ; so much so, as that they knew there was 
one God, and trembled on that account. But why were the 
idols of the heathen called devils by the Jews? Because, as 
before shown, the devil was the author of that kind of worship, 
whereby he governed and subverted the passions of men the 
more effectually, and prostituted them to the basest of purposes. 
Out of this text of St. James, arises one idea which overturns 
one branch of Universalism at least, beyond all doubt, which 
even themselves can't help perceiving, blinded as they are with 
the sophisms of their belief. This idea is, that there is a state 
of suffering among some supernatural beings in another world, 
or in eternity, and consequently a hell beyond the grave ; for 
sufferings there can be nothing short of a hell. If this is not 
so, why has St. James said, that the fact of the being of a God, 
causes beings, which he calls devils, to tremble, which is the 
sign of horror and distress ; for he says the devils believe there 
is one God, and tremble on that account. Now who, or what, 
are those beings here called devils ? They cannot have been 
the images or idols of the heathen, as they were not able to 
believe or disbelieve. They cannot have been the diseases of the 
bodies or minds of men, as disease of any and all descriptions, are 
incapable of believing or disbelieving any thing. They cannot 
have been the carnal mind, because this no more than the others, 
is capable of believing, or of being conscious of anything abstract- 
ed from the spirit or soul of man ; as the carnal mind is but a 
quality of the nature of a sinful being, but not a being itself; on 
which account it could not believe or disbelive anything — fear, 
hate, or love anything — and are therefore not the beings of which 
St. James speaks, called devils, as these could believe, fear and 
tremble, because there is a God who was opposed in his very 
nature to their characters. They cannot have been men, or 
human beings, as human beings are never called devils, in the 
sacred writings ; and for another reason, St. James said even to 
the unbelieving Jews, that they did well in believing that there 
is one God, and therefore, that belief was to them no cause of 
terror or of trembling, as it was to the devils, or the fallen angels, 
who have reason to tremble at the idea of a God, whom they 
have caused to become their enemy, on account of their rebellion 
against his government. If this is not true, why do they trem- 
ble because there is a God, which to every redeemed being is the 
very climax of hope ? To this there can be but one answer, and 



336 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

that is, that they are unhappy, and not in a condition of amity 
with the Creator ; and proves, therefore, not only the existence 
of evil spirits, but that a state of misery in eternity, as endured 
by those beings called by St. James " tKe devils," is a truth, which 
none but infidels and semi-infidels will think of denying. That 
those beings called devils, who tremble at the idea of a God, are 
in expectation of a heavier doom in some future time, is shown 
from a question put by themselves to the Saviour, on a certain 
occasion— see Matth. viii. 28, 29 — where we read the account 
of his visit to the country of the Gadarenes, among whom was 
found two men possessed with devils ; the history of this is as 
follows : "And when he was come to the other side (of the lake 
or bay of Genesereth, a wide place in the river Jordan,) into the 
country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with 
devils, coming out of (or from among) the tombs, exceeding 
fierce, so that no man might pass that way. And behold they 
cried out saying, what have we to do with thee Jesus, thou Son 
of God, art thou come to torment us before the time ?" Here 
it appears, that the devils who possessed these men, feared a cer- 
tain time, in which a heavier doom is to be inflicted upon them ; 
on which account they seemed to be greatly alarmed on seeing 
hirn whom they knew to be the Son of God, and enquired how 
it could be that he should come to torment them before the time. 
Mark and Luke relate the same thing, though with various cir- 
cumstances, not spoken of by Matthew, which we will give, as 
the accounts are very curious. Mark, v. 1, 7: "And they (the 
Saviour and his disciples,) came over to the other side of the sea, 
(or lake Genesereth,) into the country of the Gadarenes. And 
when he was come out of the ship, (or large sail boat with oars,) 
immediately there met him out of (or from among) the tombs, a 
man with ah unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the 
tombs ; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains, (so as 
to hold him,) because that he had been often bound, (in his more 
lucid moments,) with fetters and chains, and the chains had 
been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces ; 
neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, 
he was in the mountains and tombs, crying and cutting himself 
with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and wor- 
shipped him, and cried with aloud voice, and said, what have 
we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God ? I 
adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not." Here the same 
idea, that of being tormented at a certain time, is alluded to by 
the spirit who then spoke by the lips of the man, and was one of 
the number who possessed him, which was to be inflicted by 
the Son of God ; this is strange enough, if there are no devils. 

The same account is given by St. Luke, viii. 26, 33, inclusive, 
as follows : " And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, 
which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 337 

there met him a certain man who had devils (a) long time, and 
ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and 
with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou 
Son of God most high ? I beseech thee torment me not. For 
he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. 
For oftentimes it had caught him, and he was kept bound with 
chains and in fetters ; and he brake the bands, and was driven of 
the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus asked him, what is 
thy name ? And he said, Legion, because may devils were 
entered into him, (or many carnal minds, according to Univer- 
salists.) And they besought him that he would not command 
them to go out into the deep." Here also, allusion is made to a 
power the Son of God had, and to a time when it was to be ex- 
erted in their further damnation in a state of suffering. " And 
there was there an herd of many swine, feeding on the mountain : 
and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into 
them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of 
the man, (that is, many carnal minds went out of him,) and 
entered into the swine : and the herd ran violently down a steep 
place into the lake, and were choked." But as St. Matthew re- 
lates the account, it is seen that those evil spirits enquired of 
Christ, whether he had come to torment them before the time. 
Now what time is this to which the spirits here referred, and 
seemed so much to dread? St. Peter gives the answer — 2d 
Peter, ii. 4 : " For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but 
cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of dark- 
ness to be reserved unto judgment," it follows, therefore, that 
the time of judgment here alluded to by those spirits, who pos- 
sessed the men among the tombs, and the time here spoken of 
by St. Peter, is to take place at the end of time. At which time 
it is declared, that the same earth which perished in the waters 
of the flood of Noah, are now kept in store, and reserved to be 
burnt up with all the works of men, at the day of judgment, and 
perdition of ungodly men ; which of necessity must be an entire 
different affair from that of the destruction of the nation and city 
of the Jews, unless it can be shown that the Jews, their city, 
their government, and their religion, all existed before the flood 
of Noah, and were destroyed in the waters of that flood, yet are 
reserved to be destroyed again by the Romans, and was so des- 
troyed, according to the Universalists ; St. Peter, with all the 
New Testament writers, to the contrary notwithstanding. To 
us, therefore, the time to which the devils, in the case of the men 
among the tombs, alluded, when they said to the Saviour, we 
adjure thee by the ever-living God, not to torment us before the 
time, is the time of the last day, the general and particular judg- 
ment of every creature of the human race. By this, we also 
discover a state of punishment in another world, which was in 



338 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

operation even in the Saviour's time, as shown from the terror 
felt by the devils at the idea of a God, and from their allusion to 
a time when they expect the Son of God will still more severely 
punish them, and to such spirits is a never ending source of dread 
and horror, as appears from the above. 

But to all the foregoing evidence of the existence of Satan, and 
of the being of devils, Universalists turn a deaf ear, and endeavor 
to interpret all that is said on the subject of the demoniacs of St. 
Luke, and elsewhere in the Bible, of the diseases of the bodies 
and the minds of men. They say that all the devils which 
were cast out of the people by Jesus Christ, or by his disciples, 
were of the same description : carnal mindedness, bodily disease, 
cripples made whole, infirmities removed, madness and derange- 
ments of mind subverted, &c. - But if this is so, and the Scrip- 
tures on this subject will bear no other interpretation, then are 
we presented in the very outset of Christianity, with a mummery, 
equal, if not surpassing that of the Indian doctors, or Esquimaux 
conjurers ; who, in order to cure diseases, feign to converse 
with them, as if they were reasonable beings, and to drive them 
away by threats, or by promises, and by their great power and 
wisdom ; for it seems that the sickness or madness called devils, 
knowing the power of Christ, said, "if thou cast us out, suffer 
us to go away into the swine ; and he said unto them go." Now, 
if those evil spirits which had possessed the men of the tombs, 
were nothing but diseases natural to the human race, whether 
of body or mind, then we find, that in those days diseases could 
speak, could pray, could reason, and act in many respects, just 
like other thinking beings ; this, therefore, greatly surpasses the 
Esquimaux conjurers; as we do not learn from travellers that 
these northern doctors ever get any replies from diseases, but 
merely cause them very modestly and silently to make off with 
themselves, except a groan or so uttered in their name by the 
operator, as they are departing. If we are to believe with Uni- 
versalists, that in those two cases there was no spiritual super- 
natural possession, we are compelled to believe a thing much har- 
der to believe than that of Satanic possession ; which is, that the 
diseases of those men, had become discontented with their habi- 
tation of human flesh, and chose, being a little romantic, to take 
a leap into the lake, in the bodies of some two thousand swine ; 
for we see they besought the Saviour's permission, if cast out, to 
enter the swine, and to descend into the sea. 

However, it is no more than fair, that we should state that 
some learned men of the Universalist school have contended that 
those demoniacs of Gadara, were, upon the whole, a couple of 
outrageous madmen ; and instead of anything that had been in 
those men, and was cast out of them, as the account states, that 
they, of their own accord, took a furious delight in running after 
the hogs on the mountains, and finally drove them into the sea. 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 339 

Who but such men as would wish to bring the Scriptures into 
disrepute, and cause them to be loathed by every discerning per- 
son, would hit upon such methods of interpretation as above 
noticed; and would give to diseases the ability of speaking 
Greek, as that was the language they spoke in, if they spoke at 
all, rather than allow the existence of supernatural beings called 
fallen angels, evil spirits, and devils, as the Scriptures call them, 
and to admit of their influence in any way among men ; because 
such an admission would sap the foundation of the no hell, no 
devil, and no future judgment, sects of the day. But after all, 
though we were even to admit, that the men of the tombs were 
not possessed with devils, as commonly believed, yet we do not 
perceive how we should go to work to make out that they were 
either sick in body or deranged in mind, except by Satanic influ- 
ence ; because all disorders, either of body or mind, are debili- 
tating, and soon prostrate the subject, so as to make it impossible 
to be capable of violent action, except by paroxisms of short 
duration. But these men had their very dwellings among the 
tombs, and in the mountains, instead of a sick chamber, or under 
the care of nurses, and went naked in the open air, by night and 
by day, in all weathers, and had done so for a long time ; and 
yet their strength was not exhausted, their activity not impaired, 
as they had become the terror of all the country round. Were 
there no other evidence of their having been possessed with 
devils, than the bare fact of their dwelling naked in the open 
tombs night and day, in all weathers, for a long time, and yet 
continuing strong and powerful, it were enough, and would be 
so esteemed, even now, were such "a thing to happen. Chains 
and fetters of brass and iron, were as nothing in their hands 
when bound, as they could pluck them asunder at their plea- 
sure. Could this have been done by the sick ? was there ever 
a case of such perternatural strength, proceeding purely from a 
nervous or mental disease ? If it be said that the case was a pure 
madness, insanity, or distraction of mind ; yet distraction of mind 
however it may string up the nerves for a short time, cannot 
sustain the energy but a little while, when universal prostration 
ensues, with death to close the scence. But these men could 
run, leap, and shout among the hills, and cut themselves, pouring 
out their blood, without signs of weakness, could snap asunder 
the strongest fetters, could terrify the whole country with their 
uproar, and set at defiance the energy, the strength, and the 
prudence, of the neighborhood of their resort ; surely no sick- 
ness of any description can do this, in any period of the world. 

But still more singular is the fact, than even the perternatural 
strength of these men of the tombs, that they should know far 
more than all the people of that place, who had the ri^ht use of 
their minds ; which appears, from their immediate knowledge of 
the person of the Son of God, while every body else among the 



340 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

Gadarenes knew nothing of him, as he had never been in that 
place before, and was therefore a stranger among them. Yet 
these men knew him, even at a great distance, and distinguished 
him from all other men, who were with and about him, and ran 
with all their might, or with great swiftness, to meet him, and 
fell down at his feet, and without any means by which they 
could have come at a knowledge of his name and character, 
called him h Jesus, Son of the most high God ;" acknowledging 
his true character, of which even his own disciples, at that time, 
knew scarcely anything. Surely that was a strange sickness, 
derangement, carnal mind, disorder, or whatever it may be 
named of this character, by Universalists, or others of the same 
school, which could so imbue them with superhuman perception 
respecting the Messiah, the Son of God, which all men in their 
right minds were so slow to acknowledge. Was it the madness 
of these men which knew the Saviour at so great a distance ? 
Was it their disease which caused them to cry out in a loud 
voice, Jesus, thou Son of God 7 Was it their insanity and 
carnal mindedness, which made them fall down at his feet and 
worship him? Was it their malady which enquired of the 
Saviour if he had come to torment them before their time ; and 
also adjured him by the living God not to do it ? Who ever heard 
of a disease requesting not to be tormented, or not to be sent 
away out of the country, or into the deep ? Who ever heard of 
a sickness that offered, and actually performed worship ? Who 
ever heard of a disease that could tell its own name, as did theirs 
when questioned respecting it by the Saviour, and immediately 
responded that its name was* Legion, because we are many? 

But this subject is settled by the Saviour, when he came to 
cast out the cause of their strange behaviour, when he said, 
" come out of the man thou unclean spirit" commanding one 
for all. By this we find they were not sick, were not afflicted 
by any natural disorder, of body ; or of mind, but by supernatu- 
ral beings, such as could think, could fear, could pray, and beg 
not to be tormented before the time, not to be sent out of the 
country, but rather into a herd of swine, which were feeding 
nigh ; evincing powers and attributes which belong to no class 
of disorders, whether of a physical or mental character, incident 
to mortals. That these men were affected, not by any natural 
disorder of the body or the mind, is evident also, from what the 
people did and said, who had witnessed the whole transaction, 
which is as follows : " And they that fed the swine fled, and told 
it in the city, and in the country ; and they went out to see what 
was done ; and they came to Jesus, and see him that was pos- 
sessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting and clothed, 
and in his right mind." What, therefore, is the public to think 
of such men, as assume to doctrinise on theology, professing to 
believe the Bible, and at the same time teach the people that 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 341 

there are no devils, no Satan, no evil spirits, or fallen angels % 
As well, and with equal propriety, might they undertake to cause 
it to be believed that there were no such people as the Gadarenes, 
no such men as are said to have been possessed by devils at 
Gadara, among the tombs ; or that such a person as Jesus Christ 
ever existed, and went over the lake Genesereth with his disci- 
ples in a boat, or ship, on that occasion, as to feign to maintain 
that the Scriptures say nothing about a superhuman Satan, 
devils, and evil spirits, merely because they never saw any such 
beings. 

But Universalists have another comment on this subject, still 
more ridiculous and anti-scriptural than the idea of those men 
having been merely madmen. The heathen nations say they, 
surrounding the Jews in ancient times, had by some means im- 
bibed a multitude of superstitious and religious absurdities; 
among which, and as chief, and the deepest rooted, was a belief 
in the existence of evil spirits, to whom as to real beings, they 
offered religious sacrifices ; the dread of whom had gained a 
fearful ascendancy over their feelings and manners, so far as even 
to induce the shedding the blood, and the offering in sacrifice, 
human beings, men, women and children, to these infernal dei- 
ties, as they esteemed them. From those nations, the Jews in 
very early times, imbibed the belief of the existence of devils, 
demons, and evil spirits ; which belief was in full force in the 
time of Jesus Christ ; so much so, that they imagined many per- 
sons among them to be possessed by one or more such evil spirits. 
On which account, when many of the Jews, who heard the 
preaching, and saw the miracles of the Saviour, forthwith car- 
ried from all quarters, such persons as they supposed to be thus 
possessed, to be healed. But suppose all this was not true, as im- 
agined by Univesalists, did the Saviour sanction that belief, or 
supposition ? He did sanction it ; and proves, therefore, that the 
belief was not derived from the old heathen superstitions, but 
from, the Scriptures. But how do we show the Saviour sanc- 
tioned that belief? We show it by his treatment of the subject ; 
for when any one who was supposed to be possessed with a devil, 
was brought to him to be cured, he straightway cast it out ; and 
in no such case can it be shown that he said to the people, this 
is no Satanic possession, as you imagine it to be, because there 
is no Satan, there are no such beings as devils, no evil spirits of 
any kind, except yourselves, these, therefore, are not possessed 
by any foreign agent. This opinion of yours, about evil beings 
of a supernatural character, is but a pagan delusion ; flee from 
it, renounce it as false and injurious, and believe that such per- 
sons are only sick or deranged, or something of that sort, and I 
will heal them. Did he treat the subject thus ? No, he did not; 
even Universalists will not pretend it ; but did the exact contrary, 
and seconded the belief, in casting them out, and treating the 



342 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

matter as a sober and lamentable fact ; which, if it were not so. 
was hypocrisy even in him who knew no sin. But Universal- 
ists imagine that the Saviour thought it best not to contradict 
this delusion of the Jews, on account of its strength and inveter- 
acy, and therefore left them in their error, as it had became a 
national one, and even a branch of their religion, too deep rooted 
and too strong to be eradicated. But what is the consequence 
to the Saviour's character, arising out of such a view of the sub- 
ject ? Why, that he was a sycophant, and dare not oppose this 
popular error, concluding it best to connive at it ; and more than 
this, took occasion by it to rise into great repute and fame, treating 
it as a fact, casting them out, and sending them away, with 
charges never to return. For this very reason, his fame spread 
all abroad ; while the truth was, if we are to believe Universal- 
ists, he only healed their natural maladies, while he allowed 
them to believe that he actually cast supernatural devils out of 
them. 

This is a most glorious light to exhibit the Son of God in : 
what more can a man wish, who desires to make out that Jesus 
Christ was an imposter, than to get this kind of compromising 
attached to his character ? And yet, these are the men who 
teach in his name, as they say — spreading out their hands, and 
lifting up their unblushing faces toward the heavens, as if they 
wished men to credit their sincerity, in a belief of Christianity, 
and its Author. Why not profess Deism at once, and be honest, 
and not slide into a kind of credit, under the mantle and profes- 
sion of Christianity, because it is, and is likely to be a popular 
cause, while the world endures? 

In Matth. x. 16, is found a remark of the Saviour to his disci- 
ples, which to us, is no small proof of the existence of evil spirits, 
or devils, which is: "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and 
harmless as doves." Now did he mean, that he wished his disci- 
ples to have no more wisdom than a common snake, or an 
Orang-outang? This cannot have been. What then did he 
mean, by the word serpents ? He meant, as we believe, the 
fallen angels who had become devils, and are said in many parts 
of the New Testament, to be exceedingly wise and crafty in ways 
of wickedness, so much, that St. Paul, in one place — namely, 
Eph. vi. 11 — says, " Put on the whole armour of God, that ye 
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." But if he 
meant by the word serpents, nothing more than the wicked Jews, 
what then did he mean by the word doves ? For if in this case, 
one kind of animal meant the Jews — namely, serpents — why not 
the other, the Gentiles ? — as there were no other people on the 
earth but Jew and Gentile. But if the word serpent is under- 
stood as equivalent to that of devil, or evil spirits, and the word 
devil is understood as meaning a disease of some kind, then the 
Saviour meant the disciples should understand him to admonish 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 343 

them to be as wise as a sickness, or bodily infirmities, — a mad- 
ness, or peradventure an allegory. 

We know of no case in the New Testament, where a subject 
was brought to the Saviour to be healed of bodily infirmities, but 
are distinctly named, so as to leave no doubt on the reader's mind. 
If it was a palsy, or blindness, a deafness, a lameness, a fever, 
or any other natural disorder which was so named ; or if it was 
a supernatural affliction, the same is plainly stated, always 
making the proper distinction between such as were brought to 
have a devil cast out, or to have a bodily disease removed. To 
this fact St. Matthew viii. 16, bears testimony : " and he (Christ) 
cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick ;" 
which marks the distinction, as plainly as if intended by inspi- 
ration originally, to aid in the refutation of Universalists. 

What sickness is that, which in ancient or in modern times, 
has been called a devil — whether mental, or physical ? What 
lameness, sickness, blindness, deafness, fever, palsy, or madness, 
is called an evil spirit ? None, that we have as yet, heard of. 
But suppose — merely for supposition's sake, that the term devils, 
did mean disorders in general, to which the body and soul of man 
is subject ; we enquire, therefore, how is it that they are spoken 
of in the masculine gender and singular number, as they always 
are in the New Testament ? A disease in no age or country, 
can be spoken of thus ; as it is improper to speak of maladies, as 
being male or female, in any language. But we find that Sa- 
tan, and devils are always spoken of in the singular number and 
masculine gender ; which to prove, we will give one passage out 
of many, as follows , " And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided 
against himself, how then shall his kingdom stand." Matthew, 
xii. 26. 

Satan, or Belzebub, was called the prince of the devils by the 
Jews ; who said that Christ cast out devils by this prince. Now 
if by the term devils, diseases were sometimes meant, it follows 
that some disease, among the catalogue of human maladies, 
stands as prince over the rest ; and was in those times known by 
the name Belzebub, and had a kingdom over which he ruled, 
and by which the Jews said the Saviour cast out other diseases, 
or devils. But what disease was ifc which had such a pre-emi- 
nence ? Perhaps some no devil-believer can tell us ; so that due 
honors may be paid by the other diseases of mortal flesh, to so 
great a potentate. 

The following is another remarkable proof of the existence of 
devils : " And there was in the Synagogue (at Capernaum,) a 
man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, (the spirit cried 
out with the man's voice) saying, let us alone, what have we to 
do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth : art thou come to destroy 
us ? I know thee who thou art, — the holy one of God." What 
did this spirit mean by saying, " / know thee who thou art ?" 



344 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

Did he not mean that he had known him before he came into the 
world, at the time when the sinning angels were cast down to 
hell, or thitherward ? — as that same spirit was one of them who 
kept not his first estate in heaven. It cannot be supposed that 
the poor wretched man had some time before that, been acquain- 
ted with the Saviour, and now claimed that acquaintance. This 
is impossible, from the condition he was in, on account of the 
possession the devil had of him ; and besides that, it was not 
the marts mind which dictated that asservation, and claimed 
that knowledge of the being of Christ, because the man could 
not know that he was the holy one of God. It appears also from 
another view of the subject, that it was not the man's mind 
which dictated the words which his mouth was made to utter, 
on that occasion, from the fact of his saying — " what have we to 
do with thee 1 Art thou come to destroy us ?" &e. which are 
both in the plural number, and cannot therefore, apply to the 
man, as he was but one single individual, and occupied only 
the singular number. " But Jesus rebuked him, (the unclean 
spirit) saying, hold thy peace and come out of him (the man.) 
And when the unclean spirit had torn him, (the man) and cried 
with a loud voice, he came out of him? We wish here to 
request the reader, to observe critically two words in the last line 
of the above quotations, namely, he and him, as here are two 
distinct beings alluded to by those two words. The evil spirit is 
distinguished by the word he, and the man by the word him, 
who were separated by the authority of Christ. Does not this 
prove that Satanic possession was a truth, and that Christ and 
the Jews both bear testimony to the fact ? Yet Universalists 
ridicule and deny this truth, for no other reason, than because 
they will ; having entered the list they feel interested to defend 
it, whatever the consequence may be. 

But what followed on the healing of this man ? Why, they 
(who beheld it) were all amazed, inasmuch that they questioned 
among themselves, saying, What thing is this ? What new doc- 
trine is this? For with authority commandeth he even the 
unclean spirits, and they do obey him. And immediately his 
fame spread abroad through all that region round about Galilee." 
Now here it is plain, that on the very account of the Saviour's 
power to cast out and separate devils from the persons they had 
possession of, that his fame was greatly enhanced ; but if there 
was no truth in the thing itself, then was the Saviour any thing 
except that which he pretended to be. 

But he had scarcely gone out of the Synagogue from casting 
out the devil from that man, when he went into the house of one 
Simon, whose wife's mother lay sick of a fever — but not of a 
devil, as the sickness is called a fever. "And he (Jesus) came 
and took her by the hand, and lifted her up, and immediately the 
fever (not the devil) left her." "And at even, when the sun 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 345 

did set, they brought unto him (in the cool of the evening,) all 
that were diseased, (or were sick) and them that were possessed 
with devils, and all the city was gathered together at the door. 
And he healed many that were sick with divers diseases, and cast 
out many devils" Bat stranger than all the rest, on the suppo- 
sition that there is no devil, he suffered not the devils to speak. 
Now, was it diseases which he suffered not to speak, and was it 
the diseases which are here said to have known him, and to 
have been acquainted with his true character? Impossible, 
impossible, utterly impossible. In St. Mark hi. 11, 12, it is said 
" And the unclean spirits, when they saw him. fell down before 
him, and cried out saying, thou art the Son of God. And he 
straightway charged them that they should not make him known. 
Certainly these were beings of a spiritual character, as it is said 
of them in this place that they could see, could fall down at the 
feet of the Saviour, and could cry out, saying, this is the Son of 
God, &c. If all this was nothing but diseases, the bad passions 
of the mind, and the like, it is exceedingly strange that they 
should know the Messiah much more readily than did the peo- 
ple themselves. This was truly very wonderful ; was it not 7 

There is in the 9th chapter of St. Mark, an account which al- 
so establishes the doctrine of Satanic possession, as well also 
as of Satanic existence. It appears from that account that while 
the Saviour, with three of his disciples, were gone to the mount 
where he was transfigured, that there came a certain man to the 
company of the residue of the disciples, with a young lad, his 
son, which he said had a dumb spirit. This the disciples es- 
sayed to cast out, but could not. On which account, there had 
gathered a multitude about them, (fee. At the very time the 
Saviour returned, while the people were in earnest conversation 
with the disciples, and inquired of them what it was they were 
conversing about so earnestly. When one among the multi- 
tude, who it appears had good reasons to be more interested than 
any of the rest, "Answered and said, Master, I have brought un- 
to thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he 
taketh him, he teareth him ; and he foameth at the mouth, and 
gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away ; and I spoke to thy 
disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not." 
The Saviour now said, Bring him to me, and they brought the 
child to Jesus. " Straightway the spirit tore him, and he fell on 
the ground and wallowed, foaming. And he (the Saviour) ask- 
ed his (the lad's) father, how long is it ago since this came unto 
him ? And he said of a child ; and oftimes it hath cast him into 
the fire, and into the water, to destroy him; but if thou canst do 
anything, have compassion on us, and help us." Now was the 
time for the Saviour to have informed this man and the multi- 
tude, that the lad was not possessed of an evil spirit, if it were 
not so, and to have shown them that his dumbness proceeded 

24 



346 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

entirely from some organic imperfection in his head, and was 
by no means a supernatural affection, as they seemed to ima- 
gine ; but this he did not do. Daring his conversation, name- 
ly, with the child's lather, the people came running from all 
quarters, to see what was doing, and found as they came a lad 
lying on the ground, in great agony, distorted with the most re- 
volting convulsions, foaming at the month, and gnashing his 
teeth, but in perfect silence, as no sound escaped his lips, because 
he was dumb. But his father, whose eyes had not wandered 
from the face of his child, the object of his yearning heart, ex- 
cept in now and then a glance of his eye to the Saviour's coun- 
tenance, to see if he was about to do anything for his poor son ; 
but so great was the strength of his sympathy, that he could not 
contain himself any longer, but cried out suddenly with a loud 
voice,. " Lord 1 believe (thou canst help him) help thoa mme un- 
belief." 

Now when Jesus saw that the people came running together, 
lie rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, thou dumb and 
and deaf spirit, I charge thee to come out of him, and to enter 
no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore ? 
and came out of him ; and he (the lad) was as one dead, inso- 
much .that many said he is dead ; but Jesus took him by the* 
hand, and lifted him up, and he arose.' 7 [See the plate, whiefo 
shows the Saviour, the multitude, and the child lying as dead y 
with the evil spirit in the form of a human being, just passing- 
away with terror, and the father looking on, as the Saviour has 
hold of the boy's hands. 

What a pity a Balfour, a Ballou, or some sharp-sighted Uni- 
versalist preacher, had not been on the spot, to have told the 
Son of God just how it was ; and that he might depend upon it 
there was no evil spirit that troubled the child, as that he could 
not see any ; and no doubt it is a natural deafness and dumb- 
ness, which always accompany each other ; and perhaps to cut 
the string of his tongue, and pour a drop or two of rattlesnake's 
grease in his ear, might be of essential service to the child, as he 
had known this kind of treatment to be very successful indeed. 
Had this been the case, it is quite likely he would have received 
a rebuke, such as St. Paul bestowed on the ears of one Elymas, 
a sorcerer, saying, u O thou, full of all subtilty and all mischief, 
the child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, will 
thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord f 7 Acts, 
xiii. 10. 

On this subject, the curing of this lad, we give the remarks 
of Adam Clarke, who says, " Considerable emphasis should be 
laid on the words, Hhou didst resist the command of my disci- 
ples, noio /command thee to come out.' If this had been only a 
natural diseasej for instance the epilepsy, as some have argued. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 349 

e&uld our Lord have addressed it with any propriety, as he has 
done here, in saying, l thou dumb and deaf spirit come out of 
him. and enter no more into him.' 

Is the doctrine of demoniacal influence false 1 If so, then Je- 
sus took the most direct method to perpetuate the belief of that 
falsity, by accommodating himself so completely to the deceived 
vulgar. But this was impossible ; therefore the doctrine of de- 
moniacal influence is a true doctrine, otherwise Christ would ne- 
ver have given it the least countenance or support, as he every 
where has done," 

There is one thing remarkable in the above account, which 
is, that when the Saviour commanded the spirit to come out of 
the lad, that it cried out with a voice of its own, the lad being 
dumb, and unable to utter a sound, from exhaustion and loss of 
strength ; by which we discover, the spirit itself cried out with 
its own voice, by the means of the lips of the child ; this the text 
justifies beyond all doubt, by which is identified the presence of 
one of those fallen angels, now called devils. 

We come now to relate a no less remarkable account of the 
same description, found in Acts xix., and was followed with 
consequences, the most advantageous to Christianity, but no 
thanks to the evil spirit therefore. While St. Paul was at 
Ephesus — a city in Asia Minor, on the eastern side of the 
Mediterranean — great success attended his preaching there 
among the pagans, on account of a miracle done by him, in the 
name of Jesus Christ ; so that if even a garment, or a handker- 
chief, which had been about the person of St. Paul, was carried, 
and placed upon the body of any one who was sick, or were pos- 
sessed with evil spirits, they were immediately cured of their 
diseases, and the evil spirit went out of them On which account, 
certain vagabond Jews took upon them to call over them which 
had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure 
you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven 
sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so, 
and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus /know, and Paul / 
know, but who are ye ? And he in whom the evil spirit, was, 
leaped on them and overcome them, and prevailed against them, 
so that they fled out of that house, naked and wounded. And 
this was known to all the Jews, and Greeks, dwelling at Ephe- 
sus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus 
was magnified. And many that believed, came and confessed, 
and shewed their deeds ; many of them also which used cu- 
rious arts, brought their books together and burned them be- 
fore all men, and they counted the price of them, and found 
it fifty thousand pieces of silver," — amounting to seventeen 
hundred and sixty-five dollars ; the pieces being the Greek ses- 



350 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

tertius, worth something over three and a half cents of the Ame- 
rican currency. 

Now here was a great reformation from Paganism to Chris- 
tianity, occasioned by a mad man, who took it into his head to 
jump on the backs of a lot of Jews, who happened to come in 
his way, and drove them forth in true pugilistical style — if we 
are to believe what Universalists tell us about these things. [See 
the Plate.) 

A reformation got up on such grounds — if there was nothing 
supernatural in the performance of this demoniac — we should 
imagine, would been of short duration, as it would have soon 
appeared to be no fact, above a common occurrence, or a mere 
scuffle, and besides this, the spirit of the Lord is also suppo- 
sed, as taking the advantage of the circumstance, by which 
Paul and the then ministers of Christianity, were greatly en- 
couraged to go on, and to preach with great boldness, all bot- 
tomed on this freak of a mad man, and his caper with the se- 
ven sons of Sceva, a Jew. But as this reformation continued 
and prevailed, and was owned of the Most High, we conclude 
the spirit, which was in the man, was a devil, or he never could 
have overcome seven to one, and that the circumstance caused 
great fear and concern on religious subjects, which occasioned 
multitudes to resort to the Apostle's preaching, to know what 
they should do to be saved, and were converted to the Christian 
faith. 

Respecting this demoniac, we give the remarks of Adam 
Clarke, as follows : " Certain of the vagabond Jews, who went 
about practising exorcism, finding that Paul cast out demons 
through the name of Jesus, thought by using the same name, 
that they might produce the same effects, and if they could, they 
knew it would be to them an ample source of revenue — for de- 
moniacs abounded in the land. 

Josephus, while speaking of the wisdom of Solomon, says, 
that he had the skill by which demons were expelled, and that 
he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which 
they were cast out, and that those arts were known to his coun- 
trymen, the Jews, down to his own time, eighty years after the 
time of Christ," and gives the following relation. " I have seen 
(says Josephus) a certain man of my own country, a Jew, whose 
name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacs, in the 
presence of Yespasian, the emperor, and of his sons, his captains, 
and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the 
cure was this : He put a ring that had a root of one of those 
sorts, mentioned by Solomon, to the nostrils of the demoniac, 
when he drew out the demon through the nose, and when the 
man fell down, he immediately adjured the spirit to return into 
the person no more — making all the while mention of Solomon, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 353 

and reciting the incantation which Solomon had composed." 
• — Josephus* Book of Antiquities of the Jews, vol. 8, chap. 2, 
section 5. 

Dr. Clarke says — in his Comment on 1st Kings xi. — respec- 
ting the reputed wisdom of Solomon, that the writings of the 
East, among the Persians, Chinese, and Hindoos, which are 
famous for their wisdom, have derived their celebrity — if we 
may believe their own best writers — in a great measure from 
Solomon. Encomiums of his wisdom, are everywhere to be met 
with in the Asiastic writers, and his name is famous in every 
part of the East. 

Most of the Oriental historians, poets, and philosophers, men- 
tion Solomon ben Daud, or Solomon the son of David : who 
say, that during his reign, God, not only subjected to his reign, 
men, but good and evil spirits. Solomon's seal, and Solomon's 
ring, are highly celebrated by them, and to which, they attri- 
bute a great variety of magical effects. The best and oldest wri- 
ters of this description, speak of him in terms of the profoundest 
respect, as being the wisest man in all branches of human attain- 
ments, on the earth. 

That the Medes and Persians should have had a knowledge 
of the true God, is not surprising, when it is recollected that 
the whole nation of the Jews was carried into that country, and 
that with them went the Scriptures of the Old Testament, as 
much of it as was written at that time, which comprehended all 
the books from Genesis to the book of Ezekiel, inclusive. That 
the Persians did not teach the Jews a knowledge of the true 
God, as some have supposed, is shown from the sayings of the 
kings of Babylon, who in various conversations with Daniel, the 
Prophet, and in certain decrees of those kings, who say that the 
God of heaven was DanieVs God, who was the God of the Jews, 
and gave directions by decrees, that all the nations of the Medo- 
Persian empire, should fear and tremble before the God of Daniel, 
as that he was able to do his will in the armies of heaven, and 
among the inhabitants of the earth. 

Daniel and his fellows, not only taught the existence and at- 
tributes of the true God, there at Babylon, but also the doctrine 
of the existence of the Son of God, as follows : " I saw in the 
night, visions, and behold one like the Son of Man, came with 
the clouds of heaven, (his holy angels,) and came to the an- 
cient of days, and they brought him near before him. And 
there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that 
all nations should serve him." Daniel vii. 13, 14. Also Daniel 
hi. 24, 25. — " Then Nebuchadnezzer the king was astonished, 
and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, 
Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire ? 
They answered and said, True, O king. He answered, (in re- 



354 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

ply) Lo, I see four men walking in the midst of the fire, and 
they have no hurt ; and the form of the fourth is like the Son 
of God." Again, chap, ix., the angel Gabriel spoke to Daniel, 
and told him plainly when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, should 
come into the world — see verses 24, 25, 26, 27, — and that it 
would be seventy weeks till that time, which was four hundred 
and ninety years. *• 

It cannot therefore, with any show of probability, be supposed 
that the Jews learned these things of the Persian Magi, as it is 
clear that Daniel, his fellows, and the Jewish Scriptures taught 
them to the Persians ; from whom there is not a doubt but Zo- 
roaster received his opinions, so far as are found to agree with 
the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments, and as 
now taught by the orthodox sects. Hence the opinion — which 
obtained among the Persian Magi — of a Mediatorial God, who 
was finally to overcome Ahriman, the evil being, or Satan, was 
derived. 

From the same source, the Jews, and their Scriptures, the Per- 
sians, Zoroaster, and all, learned all the peculiar doctrines as now 
taught by the orthodox sects, notwithstanding the taunt of the 
Universalists to the contrary, namely, that the orthodox learned 
them of the Persians. 

The notice these early eastern writers give us of Solomon, the 
son of David, who built the famous temple at Jerusalem, answers 
and refutes a certain statement made in a pamphlet by the Athe- 
ist Club, a few years since, in the city of New- York ; who in 
the plenitude of vast information, and insolence unbounded, de- 
fied the whole Christian world to show that the Jewish people 
had any existence, on the page of history, farther back from the 
time of Christ than five hundred years : which, if it were true, 
would sweep out of existence the history of the creation, the fall 
of man, the flood, the account of Abraham, the giving the law 
by Moses, and all the acts of the Israelitish people, down to the 
time of their release from a state of captivity among the Chalde- 
ans, at Babylon, and prove the entire ruin of the whole Old Tes- 
tament veracity. 

But the statement is false, and was made in ignorance, as well 
as in malice ; for Solomon lived a thousand years before the 
Christian era, which is shown from Josephus, as well as from 
the Bible chronology ; the writings of the Egyptians, as quoted 
by Josephus, in his refutation of certain slanders these writers 
propagated about the Jews or Israelites, while in Egypt in servi- 
tude ; and also by the traditions of the Arabs to this day, claim- 
ing to be the descendants of Abraham, by way of his son Ish- 
mael ; as also by the above noticed eastern historians, in the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 355 

Chinese language, written six or eight hundred years before the 
Christian era. 

But to return to the subject. " Exorcisms, or the adjuration 
of evil spirits were frequent," says Dr. Clarke, " in the primitive 
church ; the name of Jesus was that alone which was used. 
The primitive fathers speak strong and -decisive concerning the 
power of this name, and how demons were expelled by it, not 
only from individuals, but from the temples of the heathen, which 
were turned into Christian churches in the Roman empire, the 
very places where from old, they, the devils, had been worship- 
ped and sacrificed unto. 

Ephesus, at the time Christianity was planted there by St. Paul, 
abounded with characters professing necromancy; even Adrian 
the Emperor of Rome, was exceedingly addicted to the use of 
necromantic arts, and practised divination and magic, according 
to Dio, a historian of the first century, such practises prevailed 
in all the nations of the earth," as was a result of the devil wor- 
ship of those ages. 

" The books which they burnt at Ephesus, were of that kind 
which instructed the people in the use of amulets, stones on 
which were cut the strange characters, whose influence, they 
believed, was exerted over the various orders of evil spirits. 
Among these, the Ephesian characters ranked very high, as be- 
ing exceedingly powerful in this way, both in expelling devils 
and evoking their aid when desired. On this subject, Suidas, 
who flourished in the tenth century, says the ancients used cer- 
tain obscure incantations, and gives the following as a proof : 
When Milesius and Ephisus wrestled at the Olympic games, 
Milesius could not prevail, though vastly stronger than his fel- 
low : but while he continued to struggle with his weaker oppo- 
nent, it was discovered that the small man had bound on the 
bottom of his feet the famous Ephesian letters, or characters, 
which were taken away, when Milesius threw the other thirty 
times. 

Heschius, who flourished in the third century, speaks also 
of the same thing, but is more particular and curious. He says 
the Ephesian letters were formerly six in number; but that 
certain deceivers, who did not understand their use added others ; 
but the true letters were these : Askion, Kataskion, Lix, 
Tetrax, Damnameneus, and Aision. The meaning of 
which, says Dr. Clarke, in English, is as follows : Askion, or 
darkness ; Kataskion, or light ; Lix, or the earth ; Tetrax 7 
the year ; Damnameneus, the sun ; and Aision, or truth ; all 
of which are sacred and important things. 

These words, no doubt, served as the key to different spells 
and incantations, and were used in order to the attainment of a 
great variety of ends. The Abraxas of the Bassillidans> a sect 



356 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

of Egyptian Gnostics, of the second century, were formed on 
the basis of the Ephesian letters." — Clarke. We here give a 
facsimile specimen of some of the figures and characters, cut in 
the amulets and charmed stones of those ages of Gnosticism, 
which were worn about their persons, ready for use when they 
wished to operate supernaturally, and were thus used by the 
Gnostics, a set of spurious Christians, whose extravagant opinions 
spread over all the east at a very early period, vestiges of which 
are yet remaining, and are often found beneath the soil, in many 
parts of Asia and Africa. (See the Plate.) 

Simon Magus, is, by many writers, considered as the father 
of all the Gnostic heresies. He had been a wizard by profes- 
sion ; and so persuaded were the people of Samaria that he was 
some extraordinary person, that they affirmed him to be the great 
power of God. Acts, viii. 9, 10. But being converted by Phil- 
lip's preaching, he believed and was baptized ; but relapsing soon 
after into his old ways, we see him offering money to Peter and 
John, to be endued like them with the power of working mira- 
cles. The terrible rebuke this impious proposal met with, brought 
him for a season, to a penitent frame of mind : here, however, the 
Apostolic narrative leaves him, and to complete his history we 
must refer to other sources of information. 

We learn from Origen, of the second century, one of the 
fathers of Ecclesiastical history, that Simon Magus was at Rome 
during the persecutions under Nero, and taught his followers 
that they might conform to the rites of paganism without sin ; 
and that, by this latitudinarian doctrine he saved them from 
martyrdom. This wretched man went so far as to announce 
himself to be the Saviour of the world. Nor was this enough : 
he united in his own nature all the persons of the Trinity ; in 
Samaria, his native country, he was the Father, in Judea, the 
Son, amongst the Gentiles, the Holy Ghost. All the enormities 
of this odious magician need not be related ; one, however, is too 
singular to be omitted : he carried about with him a lady named 
Helena, and announced her as the identical person whose fatal 
beauty had occasioned the Trojan war. (a thousand years before.) 
She had passed, by a hundred transmigrations, into her present 
form ; she was the first conception, he said, of his own eternal 
mind ; by her he had begotten angels and archangels, and by 
these had the world been created. This heresy was not much 
ahead of that of the Shakers of the present day, who believe that 
Ann Lee, the wife of a blacksmith in England, and the mother 
of many children, was the bride of the Lamb, or the Lamb's 
wife ; and that she was the woman of the Revelations, who was 
clothed with the sun, and had the moon under her feet, and upon 
her head a crown of twelve stars ; and that by her, not only the 
door of complete and finished salvation was opened to this world, 
but the world to come : and that she suffered in like manner for 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 357 

sin, and that without her Christ himself is imperfect.— BrowrCs 
History of the Shakers, pages 114, 115, 286. And that he? 
pretensions reached even beyond this life, according to the same 
author, in the same work ; he says of her, that at a certain time 
during the Revolution, when Ann Lee was imprisoned in the 
city of Albany, with other Shakers, on a suspicion of toryism, 
of which they were not guilty, that she declared that many de- 
parted human spirits had come to her, and had confessed their 
sins, and accordingly were absolved, and immediately entered 
into rest. 

The disciples of this imposter, Simon Magus, represented him 
under the form of Jupiter, and his female associate under that of 
Minerva ; and these representations were probably the first of 
those Gnostic amulets, which afterwards became so numerous. 
The annexed engraving (marked No. 1) is from a gem in the col- 
lection of Dr. Walsh, which he thinks was fabricated by the im- 
mediate followers of Simon Magus. The stone is a chalcedony, 
and the sculpture rude. Jupiter is represented in armor, an im- 
age of victory on his hand, and the eagle and the thunderbolt at 
his feet. On the reverse is an inscription, which has not been 
explained. The singular arrangement of the letters is supposed 
to be expressive of the coil of a serpent, a favorite Gnostic emblem, 
found in various forms and combinations upon most of their ta- 
lismonic remains. The figure marked No. 2, is another of those 
Gnostic gems. The female figure, with a finger placed on the 
lip, is a token of silence, in imitation of the Samian priests, who 
prescribed taciturnity to their followers. The other figure with 
the head of a dog, is the Egyptian Anubis ; the characters are 
not as yet interpreted. 

No. 3, is also a Gnostic amulet, which shows the archangel 
Michael, having a body like a man, but a head and wings like a 
hawk. The opposite characters signify the "might of Mi- 
chael,' 1 so monstrous and foolish were the notions of this spurious 
sect of Christians ; who blended parts of Judaism, Paganism, and 
Christianity together, besides much invention of their own, more 
monstrous than all the errors of the whole pagan world put 
together, to make out their entire system of wickedness ; we say 
wickedness, because they taught the gratification of all the pas- 
sions in the fullest extent, to be the only way to recommend them 
to God. 

No. 4 is a gem of great beauty, which is in the possession of 
Lord Strangford, and was an emblem of a sect of Gnostics, who 
worshipped the serpent, and are called the Ophites of Egypt. 
This sect believed that Christ was disguised in that reptile, and 
accordingly, as related by Augustine; found a place where one 
of the largest size inhabited a cave. Around this they contrived 
to build a wall, leaving space at the mouth of its den for it to 
move about in, and over the cave they erected an altar for wor- 

25 



358 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

ship. The animal they succeeded to tame, by enticing it from 
its retreat with such food as pleased its appetite. This done, 
they would place the elements of the eucharist, so that the tongue 
of the serpent might be extended to them, after which they 
partook of them as from the hand of the Redeemer. On this 
gem is shown a serpent, with the head of a lion encompassed 
with rays, and is supposed to signify Christ, the lion of the tribe 
of Judah. The right line traversed by three curved ones, on 
the other face of this gem, remains unexplained. The upper 
inscription is the mystic term ABRAXAS, or God. The lower 
characters have been generally taken as a Greek corruption of 
the awful tetragrammaton of the Jews, or Jehovah of the 
Gnostics ; one of their most remarkable tenets was that malevo- 
lent spirits ruled the world, presided over all nature, and caused 
all the diseases and sufferings of the human race. But by 
knowledge, which is the meaning of the word Gnostic, they 
believed these spirits could be controlled, their power suspended, 
and even made subservient to the use and benefit of man. Of 
this science they boasted of being masters ; which consisted 
chiefly in the efficacy of numbers, and certain mysterious hiero- 
glyphics, and emblematic characters, adopted chiefly from the 
Egyptians. Hence they made systems of what they called 
monads, try ads, and decads ; and formed figures of the dog 
Anubis, the serpent Serapis, and other idols, combined in a 
thousand varieties, with the forms of serpents and other animals 
of mythological renown. These compositions of mystic num- 
bers and figures, they sculptured on gems and stones of different 
kinds, and maintained that whoever bore one of them upon his 
person, was secured by it from the particular evil it was construc- 
ted to guard against. 

Amulets against diseases were formed of materials having an 
imaginary connection with the distemper ; as read against all 
morbid affections of an inflamatory character ; chrystal, glass, or 
some pale colored stone, against those that were watery or drop- 
sical ; and so of all others. 

No. 5 is a gem with a charm engraved upon it, to guard 

against the ague, constructed by an eminent follower of Bassil- 

lides, the Egyptian leader of the Gnostics. On one side is a 

human figure, with a head of a cock, the legs are serpents, and 

between them is the mystic word IAw. On the opposite are the 

elements of an Abracadabra, showing the process of the deity 

through the corporeal world, formed in this manner : 

A E H I O Y 

EHIOY 

H I O Y 

IOY 

O Y 

Y 



ANGELSJ OF the scriptures. 369 

But lastly, in pursuit of evidence of the being of evil spirits, 
we bring the case of the Phillippian girl, which is recorded in 
the book of Acts, chap. xvi. who was possessed of a devil. This 
account, were it the only one in the whole Bible, would prove 
beyond all decent contradiction, that the belief is according to 
the truth. The account is as follows : The Apostles Paul and 
Silas, being in the city of Phillippi, in Macedonia, went out on 
a certain Sabbath day, by the side of a river, where was a place 
to which the Jews in that city resorted to pray, and to worship. 
But as they went, a certain young woman, who had for several 
days before followed Paul and Silas, as they went about teaching 
the new doctrine of Christianity, crying with a loud voice, " these 
are the servants of the most high God, which sheio unto us 
the way of salvation ;" so she continued, to do on this day also. 
But Paul being grieved with her crying this thing continually, as 
he did not wish the testimony of one who was possessed with a 
devil to aid. the cause of truth, which he was preaching, he 
turned to her " and said to the spirit, I command thee, in the 
name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her • and he came out of 
her the same hour/' This girl, it appears, was possessed with a 
spirit of divination, by which means the persons with whom she 
lived got much money, as by the spirit she could tell fortunes, 
and discover things that were lost. But by a mere word spoken by 
the Apostle, not to the girl, but to the spirit, by which she could 
divine, this power or gift at once forsook her, so that her masters 
perceived, that the hope of their gain was gone. On which 
account a mob was soon collected, and both Paul and Silas cast 
into prison. But the same night which followed the day in 
which those things took place, the whole city was shaken by an 
earthquake. The prison in which they were put trembled to its 
foundations ; when the fetters and chains of all the prisoners 
were broken loose, a thing which a common earthquake could 
not have done, without breaking the limbs of the prisoners and 
causing their immediate death. 

Now respecting this young woman, it is not said that she was 
sick or in any way afflicted, with disease, or that she was mad, or 
distrated, or in any way outrageous : but that she simply an- 
swered questions as they were put to her, by those who wished to 
profit by what she could tell them. Yet the Apostle, by the power 
which he had of discerning spirits, saw that a devil had posses- 
sion of her, and that this same devil knew the character and 
business of Paul and Silas, and from whence they derived it. 
This spirit knew those men, as all the devils knew the Messiah 
before he came into the world, to be the dreadful Son of God, 
the Messiah, by whose power they had been driven down from 
heaven ; and by whose power a hell of fire and brimstone had 
been created for them, into which they knew they were finally 
and permanently to be cast at the day of judgment. And for 



360 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

this same reason, the devils spoken of in Matth, viii. 29, who 
were cast out of the men who had their dwelling among the 
tombs, adjured the Saviour, by the living God, not to torment 
them before the time of that judgment. And when this spirit 
which had possession of the girl, heard Paul and Silas preaching 
in the name of the Son of God, knew them to be his ministers, 
and immediately incited this poor ignorant young woman to cry 
out, " these are the servants of the most high God," or of Jesns 
Christ, which is the same ; and proves that Christ was God, for 
Paul and Silas were the servants of Christ. 

But possibly, it may be said by some who do not believe in the 
being of devils, otherwise than shown in the human heart, that 
as the girl had for several days heard the Apostles preach, she 
might take it into her head to hallo after them in this manner, 
saying, these are the servants of the most high God, &c. and 
therefore there was nothing supernatural about it. If this should 
be said, it is replied, that it appears the girl, however, was cor- 
rect, and evinced by far a greater knowledge of the Messiah's 
kingdom than the disciples themselves, who had been with him 
several years before his death ; and especially Thomas, who did 
not find out that he was his Lord and his God till after his 
resurrection, and even then with considerable difficulty. This 
is more than should be expected of the poor heathen girl, who 
did not know there was a most high God, having been taught, if 
taught at all, to believe in the existence of many gods, as images, 
the sun, moon, and stars, &c. That she was possessed, therefore, 
by a power superior to herself, is clear ; and knew more than 
even the wisest citizens of Phillippi, which is the proof of Satanic 
influence. 

But some may wish to know why St. Paul was displeased 
with the testimony which the girl gave, as it went to establish 
the truth of his preaching ? This question is answered by Adam 
Qlarke, and appears to be sufficient, who says : " Mark the deep 
design and artifice of this evil spirit. 1st. He well knew that 
the Jewish law abhored all magic, incantations, and dealings 
with familiar spirits ; he therefore bears testimony to what was 
in itself true, that by it he might destroy their credit, and ruin 
their usefulness ; as the Jews would at once be led to believe 
that the Apostles were in compact with demons, and that the 
miracle which had been wrought on the girl, was done by the 
aid of wicked spirits, and that the whole was the effect of magic. 
This conclusion of course, would have hardened their hearts 
against their preaching. 2d. The Gentiles finding that their 
own demon bore testimony to the- Apostles, would most naturally 
consider that the whole was one system, and that they had noth- 
ing to learn, nothing to correct, and thus their preaching would 
have proved useless in that part of the country. In this predic a 
ment, nothing could have saved the credit of the Apostles bu 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 361 

neir dispossessing this woman of her familiar spirit, and that in 
the most incontestable manner. Every circumstance of this 
case proves it to have been a real demoniac possession. St. 
Luke, in recording the account — as it was him who wrote the 
book of Acts — speaks both of the spirit and of the damsel as 
distinct beings. The damsel had a spirit of divination. Paul 
turned to the spirit, not to the girl solely, but to the spirit, and 
said, I command thee to come out of her, and he came out the 
same hour. Had not St. Luke considered this a real case of 
Satanic possession, he has made use of the most improper lan- 
guage that could be thought of ; language and forms of speech 
calculated to deceive all his readers, and cause them to believe 
a lie. But this is impossible, as the holy Apostle could not do 
so ; because he was a good man ; it was impossible, because he 
was a wise man ; it was impossible, because he was an inspired 
man, and could not be imposed upon, by either the cunning of 
men or devils." 

We know not that it is needful to pursue this subject farther, 
as we have proved the fact of Satanic existence from the Scrip- 
tures ; and by so doing, have overturned the whole baseless 
fabric of Universalism, in showing that there is a being known 
to God as Satan, and evil spirits known as devils, or fallen 
angels. And in showing this, we show that in the spiritual 
world there are sinners, for the Scriptures say the devil sinneth 
from the beginning ; and showing there are sinners in that state, 
we show, even on the Universalist's own admissions, that there 
is at least a mental hell, as sinners are miserable wherever they 
are ; and therefore proves a local hell, as all spirits are local, 
except God, and are always somewhere, and that somewhere is 
their location, and the place of their hell, even though it is noth- 
ing more than mental. In proving the ' existence of Satan, we 
corroborate the belief that Satan was that being who is called 
the serpent by the Revelator, xii. 9, the devil and Satan also ; 
and was he who tempted and misled Eve in paradise ; and in 
proving this we show that Eve was not self tempted, self de- 
luded, self destroyed ; and that man is fallen, and does not stand 
in the same moral relation to God that he did when first created, 
as all deists believe he does, and so far as we are able to discern, 
all Universalists likewise, who are thorough in their faith. And 
in proving the fall of man, we show that an atonement is admis- 
sible ; on which ground, offers of reconciliation can be made to 
she world, conviction for sin, and repentance for the same, with 
pardon and sanctification of the mind, and final salvation be 
obtained, on that and no other account ; which includes all the 
conditions of gospel economy, or of Christian theology, which 
are denied by all Universalists as well as by all deists, who must 
ttand or fall to their own masters, in the great day of final reck- 
oning. 



362 HISTORY OF THB FALLEN 

Strictures and Miscellaneous Remarks on the Subject of 
Universalisi Doctrines and Opinions. 

It is announced in the Scriptures, that the Son of God was 
manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil. But if 
there is no other devil but that of human nature, it follows then 
that human nature, which includes its passions, was the particu- 
lar object of his displeasure, and marked victim of ruin. But 
this is extremely singular, if a certain opinion which is held by 
some Universal ists is true, namely, that our race is not truly and 
radically fallen from their first and original condition ; or, in 
other words, are as they ought to be, with respect to disposition, 
passions, &c. On which account, it is extremely difficult to 
conceive why Christ should have come into the world to destroy 
this human nature devil, seeing it is the work of his own hands. 
In support of this opinion, namely, that the passions are all 
right, it is frequently alleged by Universalists, that all the pas- 
sions of the soul, and powers of the mind, as now found in 
exercise in human society, are necessary on the whole for the 
ascertainment of social happiness, by way of contrast, as once 
before stated in this work, but now again mentioned, for further 
examination. By hatred, love is the better known ; by pride, 
humility is discovered : memory is the opposite of forgetfulness. 
By cruelty, the beneficence of kindness and tenderness of heart 
are known ; by dishonesty, the glory of uprightness and truth ; 
by obscenity and lasciviousness, the excellence of chastity is ap- 
preciated the more readily ; by envy, lying, and malice, meek- 
ness, good will, and love, are seen ; by war, anger, and fierce- 
ness, the blessings of peace, contentment, and quietness come to 
light ; by superstition and bigotry. — liberal mindedness and rea- 
son, shine the more brilliantly ; by all kinds of wickedness, all 
kinds of righteousness make their appearance. Thus by way 
of contrast, all the virtues are the more easily ascertained in hu- 
man society. And to enforce this doctrine, it is said that all the 
pleasures of sense are ascertained in the same way, and by the 
same rule. Sight is known by blindness ; feeling, tasting, and 
smelling, by the opposite of these, insensibility and death. Hun- 
ger announces the joys of food ; thirst, the pleasures of the cool- 
ing fountain : rest is known by labor, and the exhaustion of the 
muscular powers ; alertness and activity, by drowsiness languor, 
and sleep. 

But if this principle, or rule of contrasting one thing with an- 
other, is correct, and by it good is thereby found out, we suppose 
it impossible to carry the idea too far, as truth never runs ashore, 
or entangles itself by being extended ; if not, then we have the 
following remarkable result : If there is a heaven of ineffable glo- 
ry, and eternal duration, there is a hell of unutterable woe, and 



ANGELS OS 1 THE SCRIPTURES. 363 

of equal continuance, as its contrast. If there are happy angels, 
who never sinned in heaven, there may be unhappy angels in 
hell, who have sinned. If there are happy souls of men who 
have departed this life in the triumphs of the Christian faith, in 
heaven, there may be unhappy souls of men who have departed 
this life in unbelief, and are now in hell, or in confinement for 
that end. If there is a holy archangel of heaven, who occupies 
a condition of intellectual height above all other holy angels — as 
the Scriptures seem to justify — called Michael, there may be an 
archangel of hell, who is higher in intellectual abilities — posses- 
sing all the opposites of the holy character of Michael — who 
reigns over the fallen angels of the bottomless pit, and is called 
Lucifer, or the devil. 

Thus we perceive that on the very premises Universalists lay 
down to justify the existence of evil in this world, there is made 
out from it, the existence of evil in eternity, or in another world, 
with equal feasibility ; for if God has a use for sin here, as Uni- 
versalists say he has, who is he that can show, it will not exist 
in eternity? 

But if we are mistaken and the Universalists are right, about 
this contrast doctrine, and it remains a truth, then are all the 
powers and passions of our race, as they should be, and as they 
were created ; then indeed, men, nor angels, are not fallen, as 
commonly supposed ; and there is no hell, nor devil, sure 
enough ; and more than this, there is no Redeemer — there was 
no broken law — no offence on the part of man, against God, as 
understood in the book of Genesis. There is no need of a days- 
man, or Mediator between God and man, as taught In the Scrip- 
tures ; whence Deism is true, and the only truth men need 
believe ; and even this is of no mortal use, as all is just as well 
without it. 

Universalists say it makes the people much happier to learn 
that there is nothing to fear on the account of sin, beyond this 
life, and that there is no hell, &c. To this it is replied, that no 
doubt all the vagabonds and criminals of the globe, would be 
exceeding happy to learn that all law and punishment for 
crimes were abolished ; yet we are far from supposing that such 
a change in their favor would make their hearts or natures any 
better, even if they were seemingly happier for a short time ; as 
it is certain that the abolishment of the sanctions of human laws, 
would not be for the happiness of either the good or the bad, in 
no age or country. We may say the same respecting a man 
who is wicked even to extremities, yet always believed, even 
from infancy, that there is a hell beyond this life, into which he 
may finally fall. Now let this man be informed that his belief 
and his apprehensions are entirely unfounded, and cause him to 
rely upon it, what would be the effect ? Why, in a moment he 
would be relieved of a grievous burden, the fear of damnation 



364 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

after death would be taken away ; but not because his heart 
could be made better thereby, or because he would view God as 
any more amiable than before this change of opinion ; but for 
no other reason than that his fears would be removed ; the 
same, precisely the same, as in the case of the abolishment of the 
punishment for criminals, as we have shown before ; the evil 
propensities remaining, nay more, those propensities are in- 
creased in exact proportion as they are pampered and fears sub- 
side in. the actor. 

To talk about the goodness of God manifested in such a way, 
would be preposterous, and open a door for the most abandoned 
to enquire, what goodness, and how does it appear 7 The an- 
swer to this would be, according to Universalists, that it appears 
in this, that he has made no hell for the wicked in another life, 
though men leave the world as wicked as can be conceived of. 
But, enquires the sinner, would it be just for God to have done 
this ? If it be answered yes, it would have been just, then his 
reply is, because he has not done it, he is therefore unjust ; and 
a God unjust is a wicked God. But if the sinner is told that 
the creation of a hell for sinners would be an unjust, wrong, and 
foolish thing, and that therefore he has not done it, then the sin- 
ner still continues his enquiry, wishing to know from whence 
the goodness of God appears on that account, as it was impos- 
sible for him to have done if it were an unjust and foolish 
thing. The result of this enquiry is, that God's goodness does 
not appear at all, on this particular subject, that of the non-crea- 
tion of a hell in another world ; as on that account there is noth- 
ing brought to light, except his great indifference to sin and sin- 
ners, as there is no penalty of more importance than is merely 
temporal ; and even that is not absolutely certain, as appears 
from the prosperity and temporal happiness of many of the great 
and the rich in this life. 

By Universalists it is contended that it is contrary to the good- 
ness of God, as a father and a creator, to permit, allow, or cause 
to be, a state of endless punishment in another world, on account 
of anything which the human soul can do in this life, in the way 
of sin and transgression against the law of God. As well, how- 
ever, might it be maintained that he who should sever a limb 
from his own hody in his youth, by a wanton act of heedlessness 
or desperation, which God in his goodness had furnished him 
with, that this same goodness is bound as a father and a creator, 
to prevent, or immediately to restore. For it may be enquired, 
why should the act of a moment subject a man to the mortifica- 
tion and want of a limb, twenty, fifty, or eighty years ? But as 
we see such privations are consistent with the goodness and 
fatherly government of the Most High, though done in the gieat- 
est wantonness, and in a moment of time, how is it to be shown, 
that if a man incapacitate himself, in a moral point of light, for 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURE^ §65 

Hie holy enjoyment of a holy God, in a holy heaven, among 
holy angels, and the souls of the just made perfect, and goes out 
of this life thus incapacitated, that he may not suffer for it to all 
eternity, on the same ground that he did the loss of a limb du- 
ring the whole of his natural life. If we can deprive ourselves 
of important comforts in this life, and yet the goodness and pow- 
er of God be not accountable, how is it to be shown that we can- 
not do so in relation to another % 

It is of no importance for the opponent to urge the vast dis- 
parity there is between eighty years and eternity, for the thing is 
to be determined on principle, and not on the difference there is 
between time and eternity ; and that principle is God's justice, 
which if it is consistent with goodness in one case, in the light 
of a principle, it follows of necessity, that so it is in the other. 
The Divine Being acts upon principle, and in no other way, 
whether it concerns the greatest possible subject or the very 
least which his omniscience can apprehend. It follows, there- 
fore, that the goodness of God is not bound to prevent in an ar- 
bitrary and absolute manner, the eternal damnation of a morally 
incapacitated human soul, if that incapacity be not removed 
before the soul goes hence. 

The writer of this work has heard the famous HoSea Ballou, 
say in' the city of Albany, from the desk, in 1834, that he thanked 
God and was happy, that the burden of the fear of hell, was en- 
tirely removed from his mind, which had been imbibed from 
early education. But how infinitely short must his happiness 
be, with all those who hold with him, to the happiness of a soul 
which has repented of its sins, been pardoned, and sanctified by 
the Holy Ghost ; whose happiness consists not in the idea that 
there is no hell, but because the evil nature is taken away by 
regeneration and the renewing of the mind after the image of 
its Creator, in virtue and true holiness; by which a hope of 
heaven is obtained, beyond this life, and on no other ground, to 
the praise of the atonement and him who effected it, in his pas- 
sion in the garden, and on the cross. 

The doctrine of unconditional and universal salvation, la 
most certainly calculated to make men indifferent to their beha- 
viour in this life, and to lessen in a wonderful degree, the salu- 
tary fear of God ; while, on the other hand, a belief that God 
will punish the sinner, who shall die in his sins, in another life, 
has a powerful tendency to increase meifs concern about sin and 
sinful conduct iri this life, and to induce them to be reconciled 
to God through the Mediator, by grounding the weapons of their 
rebellion against his law and government. We have narrowly 
considered this matter, and have not been able to perceive why 
Universal ists should be deterred from sinful conduct, except 
barely from the pride of emulation, and a good name as a people, 
which at the least is but an uneasy bridle ; for except a man be 
26 



366 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

born again of the spirit from above,, whereby he obtains fellowship 
with God and with his Son, the restraints of religion are exceed- 
ingly unwelcome to the passions of such a rriaiL " What if sin- 
ners," says the Rev. Mr. Fisk, in his sermon on future punish- 
ment, " happen to be in an error on this point, and therefore 
mourn on account of sin, and tremble at the thought of meeting 
death, and appearing at the judgment in an unprepared condi- 
tion ? What if the pious, by mistake, should fear for others, and 
thereby be induced, like the Apostle, to warn every man, night 
and day with tears? What if it cause parents to mourn and 
weep for their unconverted children ? Still this error would 
lead men to nothing worse in this world than to use greater cir- 
cumspection with respect to their own walk, and to use with 
greater diligence and solicitude those means that are calculated 
to reform others." The voice of Scripture is everywhere, pre- 
pare to meet thy God, as ye know not what a day, or what an 
hour may bring forth ; but the voice of Universalists is, that 
there is no preparation to meet God necessary, except in the res- 
urrection at the last day ; all is right, all is well ; and therefore 
it matters not what a day or an hour may bring forth, whether 
death or life ; all is well, as there is to be but one event, both t& 
the good and the bad after this life ; and all such opinions as 
teach contrary doctrine, are but the bug-bears of the nursery, 
and superstitions of the day. 

Universalists have a singular notion on the subject of the 
atonement , which arises out of their denial of its being expia- 
tory, or as making satisfaction for the sin of Adam, and for the 
sins of the world, so as to make it possible and just for God to 
extend to the race of man in Adam the privilege of animal life, 
with that of a renewed opportunity to serve God and go to hea- 
ven ; and this notion is, that the aioneme?it is reconciliation, 
which is putting the effect as cause, and the cause as the effect. 
There is an immense distance between the idea and fact of 
atonement and reconciliation. 

That Universalists hold the atonement and reconciliation as 
one and the same idea, we show from Mr. Ballou's Treatise on 
Atonement) see page 127, as follows : " I have already observed 
that atonement and reconciliation are the same." But does 
St. Paul teach this ideal see Romans v. 11 : "And not only so, 
but we also joy in God. through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 
we have now received the atonem,eniP The argument here is, 
that if it was received, it must of necessity come from some other 
quarter than a man's own heart. Mr. Ballou seems to imagine, 
that a work of grace on the heart of a man, whereby he is 
brought to love God, is the atonement itself ; which, were it 
so, would make every man who loves God his own Saviour, as 
love has its beginnings in the heart of the very individual it con- 
cerns. But if it is said a man loves God, in the true and evan- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 367 

gelicai sense of the word, on account of the benefits of Christ's 
death for all mankind, and in that way becomes reconciled to 
God, it shows that the atonement and the reconciliation are two 
in their origin and nature. The atonement, therefore, may- 
exist, while personal reconciliation may not exist. 

Mr. Ballou seems to think that because Christ has all power in 
heaven and in earth, that he will therefore, arbitrarily commence 
and cany on in all human souls, the work of love to God, which 
when effected is the atonement. But St. Paul seems very clear- 
ly to place the matter as optional with men, whether they will 
or will not receive the atonement ; for observe, he says, as above 
quoted, " by whom we have now received," &c, as if the act of 
receiving it when they did, was their own optional act, when 
favored with the opportunity. And besides this, he makes it a 
definite thing, and speaks of it in the singular number, by say- 
ing the atonement, as if there is but one ; when, if Mr. Ballou's 
idea is the true one, there are as many atonements as there have 
been Christians since the world began ; which is foolishness, 
and overturns the atonement made for the sin of the whole 
world by the one only Mediator, as said 1st John ii. 2 : " And 
he is the propitiation for our (the then believers) sins, and not for 
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." This estab- 
lishes the fact, that the death of Christ's body on the cross, for 
the sins of the whole world, was propitiatory, or expiatory ; 
which is an atonement toward God, and overturns Mr. Ballou's 
opinion, that the atonement is a process in a man's own mind, 
to the exclusion of the atonement made on the cross by Jesus 
Christ ; an idea as fatal to true Christianity, as the denial of the 
Saviour's being altogether, would be, or that of his miraculous 
birth, which Universalists universally deny. 

Respecting temporal death, as it relates to the human race, 
Universalists believe it to be according to the order of nature, and 
the appointment of the Creator : and accordingly, Adam was 
made, they contend, subject to death, even though he had not 
sinned. If death therefore, was by the original appointment of 
God, bestowed on man, it should be considered a blessing, as ail 
his gifts are good, — yet death is counted as an enemy, by Uni- 
versalists — see Mr. Ballou's Treatise on Atonement : « For he 
(Christ) must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet : 
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death? — page 124. 
This is to be destroyed by the resurrection ; to which we do not 
object : but that death was by the will and appointment of God, 
is what we do object to, as God should not be accused of putting 
enemies among his own works. But when it is believed that 
death came into the world, on account of the sin of our first pa- 
rents, as a consequence of that sin, then it may be reckoned as 
an enemy, leagued with sin and the devil, who has the power of 
death. Now if death is counted as an enemy to the human 



368 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

race, and God is its cause and owner, then God is an enemy to 
his own works ; and as death is to be destroyed, with him who 
has the power, or is the cause of death, we are brought to the 
awful conclusion, that God is to be destroyed. Universalists 
should not speak of temporal death as an enemy ', seeing they 
believe it not to be the consequence of sin, but by the appoint- 
ment of the best of beings, and then talk about it as an enemy 
on such ground ; for the Scriptures certainly instruct us, that 
death and its cause are to be destroyed as a last enemy. 

Universalists build their hopes of heaven wholly on the om- 
niscience and goodness of God, and his natural love to his own 
intellectual offspring, without bringing into the account, any 
change of character, which possibly might take place in the 
minds of such offspring. 

We show that they believe this, from Mr. Ballou's Treatise 
on Atonement^ page 111, as follows : " God being infinite in all 
his glorious attributes, he can by no means love at one time, and 
hate the same object at another. His divine omniscience com- 
prehends all events of time and eternity ; therefore, nothing could 
take place to remove his love from an object on which it was 
placed. The Almighty had no occasion to dislike Adam, after 
transgression, anymore thari he had even before he made him; 
for he knew as well then that he would sin, as he did after it 
was actually done." Mr. Ballon should have carried his idea on 
this subject, a little further, and made this omniscience prevent 
in an arbitrary manner, all derelictions of his creatures ; then 
there could have been no sin; however, he has another idea, 
which answers the same purpose ; and this is, that the sin of 
Adam, with the sins of all mankind, are according to the will, 
design, and decree of God, and comes to the same thing ; which 
is, that sin is not sin — God being its cause, and therefore, ifciere 
is no need of expiatory atonement : true enough, as they, and 
all Deists teach. This is the reason Mr. Ballou says, as above 
quoted, that " God had no occasion to dislike Adam after trans- 
gression, any more than he had even before he made him." In 
this respect, it appears that God had not as much, liberty as his 
creatures ; for man can dislike at one time a person, which may 
be beloved at another, on the ground of some supposed, or real 
change. Now we admit with Mr. Ballou, that God is unchang- 
able in all his attributes, and their display toward his creatures ; 
but we do not therefore, see why he should always love the same 
object, if that object change its character, although he foreknew 
it would so change. Mow Mr. Ballou admits that Adam's char- 
acter was changed, by means of the earthly part of his nature, 
called his passio?is, getting the upper hand of the heavenly na- 
ture, which he says was Christ, who was created in him, and was 
called by Mr. Ballou, the first human sofil which was created ; 
and that « the powerful vibrations of the fleshy nature, absorbed 



AtiQKL&QV THE SOftlPWitE&i 3&J 

his mind: ho (that is, the heaven] y nature, Christ, as we under- 
stand him) sought to the carnal man for food — ate and died." 
• — page 37, of his Treatise on Atonement. So that we prove by 
Mr. Ballou's own words, and meaning, that Adam became 
changed in his character. It follows therefore of necessity, God 
being ever of one mind, that he must dislike Adam after his sin, 
in the same proportion that he loved him before. The conse- 
quence is inevitable, and cannot be avoided in but one way, and 
that is on the supposition that God changed in his character, 
when Adam changed in his, so that he kept on loving him just 
the same after his sin, as lie did before. But the truth is, God is 
ever in love with righteousness and holiness, in which, he has 
an unchangeable mind ; from which it is seen that good char- 
acter is the object of his love, and therefore, if his creatures 
change their characters, he of necessity, has nothing there to 
love, as the quality which he loved has disappeared. We con- 
sider therefore, this hope of the salvation of the whole world, 
just no hope at all ; for as surely as man has changed his char- 
acter, so surely — except his character is again changed to that of 
righteousness and true holiness — God must continue still to dis- 
like the unrighteous character, even to eternity. 

But Mr. Ballon is sure that sin is of great use in the world, on 
the whole, or God would not have permitted its being, and 
therefore its existence should not be brought, by this author, as 
evidence of a sinful change of character, as we have shown he 
has done, on page 37, of his Treatise on Atonement — for it is 
impossible for any one to show that Adam was really changed 
in his moral character, and at the same time show that he was 
not. Now this follows, as strange as it is ; for if God did not 
look upon Adam after his sin, as having deviated, from his de- 
sign, then he could not look upon him as changed in his char- 
acter, while Mr. Ballon does — as we have above shown he has 
in his work. 

Another inconsistency of Universalists, we have observed in 
their writings on religious subjects, and this is, — that as all pow- 
er in heaven and on earth is given to Jesus Christ, he will there- 
fore, because he can, save all mankind : yet we are told by Mr. 
Ballou, in his Treatise on Atonement, page 35, " that man was 
created in Christ, was blessed in Christ, and in Christ set over 
the works of God's hands ; which he calls man's heavenly na- 
ture, and the image of God, which he had, even before he was 
formed of the dust of the earth ; this imnsre, which was Christ, 

7 O / 7 

became in the formed part of man, the heavenly nature, which 
is Christ, who has all power in heaven and in earth ; yet Mr. 
Ballou tells us, on page 37, of his Treatise, that " the powerful 
vibrations of the fleshly nature, absorbed his mind— he sought 
to the carnal man for food, and died." Thus we see that the 
fleshly nature of man was vastly stronger than the heavenly 



370 HISTORY OF THE PALLET 

nature, which was Christ, notwithstanding Christ has all power 
in heaven and hi earth, yet the fleshly nature of Adam was 
stronger still. But as we understand this author, we cannot 
avoid the strange conclusion, that this Christ, the image of God, 
the heavenly nature, was killed by the other power which was 
in Adam, namely, the fleshly nature, and of this we are certified 
by Mr. Ballou himself, on pages 36 and 37 of his Treatise, 
which he calls the " heavenly stranger within, or whatever the 
reader,''' he says, " may please to call the immortal part of man ;" 
but that this immortal part, this mind, this image of God, which 
is Christ — "sought to the carnal man for food — ate and died." 
Consequently, Christ died in the very first onset with the devil, 
which was Adam's lusts, as Universalists hold ; and yet we rind 
him alive, and in the year of the world 4004, making atonement 
for sin, in his death at Jerusalem, on the cross. 

Mr. Ballou considers the whole account, as given by Moses, 
about the garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge, the tree of life, 
the serpent, and Adam and Eve's trial, as wholly figurative, by 
way of allegory, and further remarks : " Should it be said that 
this garden was a literal garden, that the tree of life was a literal 
tree, and that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was also 
literal, I should be glad/' says he, " to be informed, what evi- 
dence can be adduced in support of such an idea ;" — and adds : 
« Where is the garden now ? Where is the tree of life now ? 
Where is the tree of knowledge of good and evil now ?" &c. 

" I should be glad to be informed, what evidence can be ad- 
duced in support of such an idea," namely, of there having been 
a literal garden, &c. To this it is responded, that the Bible is the 
evidence ; read the book of Genesis, the first three chapters on 
those subjects, which makes it plain enough ; as well as a mul- 
titude of allusions to the same thing, in many parts of the Scrip- 
tures, besides the comments of the Jewish Rabbins in the bar- 
gain, to that effect. If the Bible is no evidence in point, then 
very truly, we shall have to give it up : and if the opinion of the 
Jews, as well as Christian commentators, in the first ages of 
Christianity, on that subject, incidentally treated on, with others, 
is no evicence, as collateral, why then truly, we shall have to 
give it up, but not till then. 

As to the other query : " Where is the garden now, 11 &c, we 
answer, it is no where ; as its situation was destroyed, in all 
probability, by the waters of the great Deluge. Mr. Ballou 
might as well have enquired, where the cities, and towns, and 
dwellings of man before the flood are, when he knows as well 
as other men of general information, that all these things were 
destroyed by the flood, and doubtless, the entire face of the earth 
was greatly altered — the site of the garden of Eden, with the 
rest, is not hard to be imagined, was also destroyed. 



ANCfELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 371 

But the climax of error among this people, is seen respecting 
the condition in which they say God created man ; and that is. in 
his having had tv;o natures, which were opposed to each other. 
One nature, the best writers among this people say, consisted in 
the immortal, pure, and heavenly mind, or soul of the man, 
which was in Christ; the other nature was the serpent, or car- 
nal mind, with all the fleshly passions or lusts. New, these two 
natures, as soon as they were brought together, which consti- 
tuted the entire being called man, were found instantly to wage 
war with each other ; the spirit of truth, or heavenly part, lust- 
ing against the fleshly nature, and the fleshly nature lusting 
against the spirit of truth. But there having been a preponde- 
rency given by the Creator to the power and force of the fleshly 
nature, it overcame, with great ease, the other power, or heaven- 
ly nature of the soul, so that man, in this way, committed sin, 
the very thing which God wanted he should do. How much 
honor does such an idea bring to the Creator, in establishing the 
wisdom of God in the sight of reasonable beings. 

On this view of the thing, it is impossible to make out the ex- 
istence of moral evil, viewed as a whole, or as affecting human 
society individually, in parts ; because that which is absolutely 
good, when viewed as a great whole by the Supreme Being- 
must be viewed also as good when subdivided into parts ; there- 
fore God sees no jsin in the universe. 

Universalists make a very free use of the circumstance of the 
treachery of Joseph's brethren, in their selling him to the Ish- 
maelites, because Joseph said to them after they had found him 
in Egypt, and he had discovered himself to them, and their 
father being dead, that they meant it for evil, while God meant 
it unto good, and therefore they might be comforted, and fear 
nothing from him (Joseph) on that account. The free use these 
people make of this circumstance, is that sin is necessary in the 
providence of God : for, say they, if Joseph's brethren had not 
meant the selling of their brother for evil, God could not have 
meant it for good ; as he would have lost the opportunity to 
save the house of Israel from death by starvation. But we ask, 
how do Universalists avoid in this case, from their view of the 
subject, charging God with prompting in the minds of Joseph's 
brethren, the evil which they meant in selling their brother ? 
If this conclusion cannot be avoided, namely, that God was the 
author of their evil intentions, and accordingly of all other men's 
evil intentions when they sin, as Universalists view the subject, 
wherein did those brethren of Joseph's do wrong, notwithstand- 
ing they meant it as evil, when we recollect that God prompted 
in their hearts that very evil, and therefore it was his eviL inten- 
tion and not theirs, as that which God is the author of should 
never be accredited to man 1 

Are we to suppose that the villainous act of Joseph's brethren 



372 



ttlSTOR* OF TItE FALLEN 



was the only way by which the Divine Being could have saved 
the house of Israel from starvation, and farthered his plans res- 
pecting the posterity of Jacob } We think not ; as God cannot 
be indebted to sin or evil of any kind, to further his plans. His 
forcknoioledge of their act, did not induce the act ; but as the 
thing' was foreseen of the Divine mind to arise out of their own 
free volition, he determined to subvert their purpose, and by 
virtue of such subvertion, he determined to effect much good, 
but not by virtue of their evil intention. God is able to take a 
local sin and subvert the intention of its author, and produce a 
local good, as in the case of Joseph's brethren, and in thousands 
of other cases ; but when this fact is applied to the great whole 
of the human race, it fails, as we are not able to perceive how 
sin as a great whole is of any possible use to the world, in any 
possible way it can be viewed. If it be said that by it the 
Divine Being derives opportunity to bring in a system of redemp- 
tion and salvation, with all the glories of such a system, we reply 
that we do not yet perceive its use, as applicable to the great whole* 
when we reflect that God could as easily have produced man in 
a condition from which he could not have apostatized, by ha- 
ving withheld free agency ; and could as easily have kept the 
whole human race in a sinless state in this way, as he could 
redeem them to an opportunity of holiness again. Now, on this 
view, what is gained viewed as a great whole ? Just nothing at 
all, as we can see ; for if God might be supposed to desire that 
his intellectual creatures should know how great evils they were 
exposed to, except upheld by his power, nothing could have been 
easier than for the Divine Being to have empowered them with 
intuitive knowledge, sufficient for a review of all such supposa- 
ble cases of evil, and thus have saved the great routine of sin 
and redemption, as has transpired in our world. On this view, 
that which mortals call sin among themselves, is found to be no 
sin, as it was according to the will of God that it should exist, 
and therefore is as holy in the strict sense of the word as any 
thing else which God has thought best to produce to carry on 
his plans. Now if this be so, which is the doctrine Universalist 
writers maintain as we understand them, then, true enough, the 
atonement is ruined, and it is very proper to deny, as these 
writers do, an expiatory atonement by Jesus Christ, as held by 
the orthodox sects ; and also extends itself to the ruin of even 
their own plan of atonement, which is, that atonement is nothing 
more than a rencioal of love to God in the heart ; which they think 
is effected without an expiatory sacrifice ; but in what way, or 
on what account they do not tell us. But hoiv, it is likely a 
Universalist might enquire, is it that their peculiar view of 
atonement is also ruined, even supposing all the volitions and 
evil intentions of men are prompted by the Divine Being? It is 
because it would be impious and foolish to suppose that God 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 3T3 

does arwy thing in such a manner as to need an atonement, or a 
corrector thrown into his works. It would be the height of 
nonsense to suppose that God balances things in such a manner 
as that his works are prone to run to ruin, and therefore, is 
every now and then compelled to throw in a corrector. If 
therefore, at any time, it is imagined that men do not love God, 
let it be recollected that this is a mistake — according to Univer- 
salists ; as those actions, which are supposed as evidence, that 
men do not love God, are the very actions which the Divine 
Being has his own use for, and it ill becomes any man to find 
fault with his business. To talk therefore, about what Univer- 
salists call atonement, or a process of love to God, passing in the 
heart, is as idle as to say the passing of the winds through the 
empty space is atonement, when it is all as it should be, respect- 
ing human actions, and is impossible for any thing to be other- 
wise. Mr. Ballou says, on page 6S of his Treatise on Atone- 
ment — " that man is dependent in all his volitions, arid moves 
by necessity" and that u the Almighty has a good intention in 
every volition of man." 

What more meed we, in evidence that sin does not exist, if the 
sentiments above are true ? Man moves by necessity ; how then 
can he help it ? And whatever he does, is the good intention of 
God ; therefore all man's acts, are God's acts : how then does sin 
exist? Where is the room, or need of atonement of any kind % 
Universalism, is therefore Deism : as on the scale of Deism, no 
atonement, or divine revelation, is necessary, as God's works are 
not out of order, and never can be, whether moral or physical. 
That God's own proper works are out of order, we do not be- 
lieve, but the free volitions of intellectual beings are not God's 
own proper works, but are the works of his creatures, or moral 
evil does not exist. If it is enquired, who is the author of free 
will, or free agency, — it is answered, God is the author. But 
must it follow therefore, that he is the author of its misuse, or 
abuse ? By no means ! — for the very idea of free agency, pre- 
cludes such a notion. But if free agency is a mere chimera, 
then is there no free volition, and man acts from necessity, and 
therefore cannot sin ; and even it is not in the power of God to 
make him commit sin, for every act of necessity is the act of 
God, who cannot sin ; therefore sin does not exist, and never 
can, as God is good, just and wise. A system of salvation, 
therefore, as we have often before said in this work, is not need- 
ed, and therefore, is not extant, on the Universalis! plan : Chris- 
tianity is but a system of philosophy ; and though the best ever 
introduced among men, has nothing however, in it that can be 
considered supernatural, any more than other systems, which 
are the invention of men. 

That Mr. Ballou does not hesitate to wrest the Scriptures to 
his own particular purpose of unconditional salvation, we show 

27 



374 history of the fallen 

from page 183, of his Treatise on Atonement, where ho quotes 
a small part of an idea, of which St. Paul was the author j see 
2d Thess. i. 7, 8, 9 : " And to you who are troubled, rest with 
us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his 
mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance/' &c. There, 
Mr. Ballou stops the quotation, and leaving out the whole 
phraseology of the Scripture, in the 8th verse, which goes to 
show who and what it is that is to be destroyed, and substitutes 
his own remarks on the 7th verse, and on that part of the 8th 
which does not respect the final meaning and amount of the 
whole three verses. He leaves off his quotation as shown above, 
at the word vengeance, and resumes it again after skipping, as 
follows : u On them that know not God, and obey not the gos- 
pel of our Lord Jesus Christ" which he should not have done : 
but the reader can unite the part which he has left out, and 
ascertain that it is the very soul of the three verses. But he 
resumes the quotation, and gives the whole of the next verse, as 
follows : " Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power " 
Now the great enquiry in these three verses, is to ascertain what 
or who it is, which is threatened with everlasting destruction. 
To ascertain this, Mr. Ballou says he calls in his key text ; 
which is found 1st Cor. hi. 12, 13, 14, 15 — where it is shown 
that it is the hay, toood, and stubble, which is to be destroyed by 
the flaming fire, with an everlasting destruction, &c; or in other 
words, his view is. that men's sins, which he seems to think, is 
represented by the terms, " hay, wood, and stubble? But Mr. 
Ballou has been a little too fast here, with his key text, in sup- 
posing the hay, wood, and stubble, is what is meant in the other 
text, namely, the 7th, 8th, and 9th of 2d Thess., because the key 
text, as he calls it, does not say that the hay, wood, and stubble, 
shall certainly be burnt or destroyed, but merely makes it suppo- 
sabie, as follows : "If any man's work shall be burned, (see, it says 
if,)he shall suffer loss," &c, so that it is very far from being abso- 
lute. While the other subjects of denunciation, in 2d Thess. i. 
7, 8, 9, is absolute, and personal ; see how it reads, — " taking 
vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ;" all of which, from the word ven- 
geance, Mr. Ballou left entirely out, thinking thereby, to lead 
the reader's mind to a belief, that it is men's sins, or their hay, 
wood, and stubble, which is thus to be everlastingly destroyed, 
and not the wicked persons themselves. But the spirit of inspi- 
ration has been a little too particular, to answer Universalists a 
good purpose, in this portion of Scripture, namely, 2d Thess., for 
it is written there, — the Lord Jesus, when he shall be revealed 
from heaven with his mighty angels, will take vengeance on 
— who — hay, wood, and stubble, or sin itself? No, not at all ; 
but on them (persons or sinners) that know not God, and obey 



ANSELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 375 

not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who (persons or sin- 
ners) shall be punished with everlasting destruction, &c. Now 
hay, wood, and stubble, or sin-) if you please, are not subjects of 
moral government — are not beings, and cannot therefore, be 
supposed capable of obeying or disobeying the gospel; and 
besides this, sin has no being, only as originated by a conscious 
thinking being, and therefore, cannot be punished. It is not 
sin which feels the pain of a troubled conscience, as sin has no 
conscience : it is not the oath which the profane has uttered, 
which feels guilty, but the author of the oath, the perpetrator 
of the sin ; he it is who feels a conscious guilt, and is him who 
is capable of being thus everlastingly destroyed, according to the 
sense of the text. It is the unrepenting wicked who are to be 
destroyed, and not their sin as distinguished from the author. 

Mr. Ballou says on this subject : " That which is destroyed, I 
grant, is endlessly destroyed." Now do we not clearly show, as 
above, that it is the sinner, and not his sins, which are to be pun- 
ished with an everlasting destruction ; consequently, Mr. Ballou 
himself, has unwittingly admitted the endless death, or destruc- 
tion of the wicked, at the time when the Lord Jesus shall be thus 
revealed. But still more curious on this subject, Mr. Ballou has 
turned the vengeance of the Judge of quick and dead into sal- 
vation to the sinner, and says the fire which the Lord Jesus shall 
be revealed in from heaven, taking vengeance on them who 
know not God, is the fire " which alone is able to effect his sal- 
vation." Page 183, Treatise on Atonement— near the bottom of 
the page. Now if this is the fire which is to save the sinner, 
what is to become of the righteous, who are not threatened with 
it ? Surely, they are to have a hard lot ; as they are to be de- 
prived of this everlasting destruction salvation. If this is not 
subverting and wresting Scripture, we know not what is ? 

Mr. Ballou says, that " The literal death of the man Christ 
Jesus, is figurative ; and all the life we obtain by it, is by learn- 
ing what is represented"-— Treatise on Atonement, page 131, 
Now if all the benefit of Christ's death, to the human race, is to 
depend on their knowledge of its figurative meaning, there are 
but few who will be benefitted or saved by it ; what then is to 
become of the rest ? Just nothing at all, as their end is to be 
precisely the same. 

We have always supposed that the ceremonial law of the 
Jewish Church was figurative of Christ's death and passion on 
the cross, for the sins of the world, but did not know that Christ's 
death was also a figure ; by which, if true, there is shown noth- 
ing but figure from Genesis to Revelation. A figurative church, 
as of the Jews, a figurative atonement, and a figurative salva- 
tion : much good may it do its figurative supporters ; it were 
much better for the world were there less such figuring writers 
on theology ; there would be fewer deists. 



376 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

Mr. Ballon, in showing the use God had for the wicked mur- 
derers of Jesus Christ, says in conclusion: "Then it is plain, 
that to do evil that good may come is possible: 1 But St. Paul 
was of a different opinion, when he says, " shall we continue in 
sin that grace may abound? God forbid." Romans, vi. 12, 
Or in other words, shall we do evil that good may come by it f 
God forbid. But if there shall ever come a time when all men 
will believe that God has a use for the sins of each individual, as 
well as for his righteous acts, that will be the time when con- 
science will cease to have a being in the human soul ;. that will 
be the time when moral government can have no application to> 
the human race ; and that will be the time when the doctrines, 
of Universalis! theology shall be thoroughly understood and be- 
lieved in the world ; for how is it possible for the wicked to feel 
guilty for deeds done, if they can but believe such deeds are 
required by the Creator, for his own purposes 7 and establishes 
that which we have in several parts of this work already said ? 
namely, that on the Universalist plan, there is, nor never has 
been, sin, or moral evil in the world ; and consequently Chris- 
tianity is dwindled down to a mere moral philosophy* 

One of the main points of Universalist doctrine is, that salva- 
tion to the human race is altogether an unconditional thing. 
God, they say, has in his wisdom made the salvation of our race 
to depend, not on the instability of human volition, but on his 
goodness and power ; on which account, salvation is of necessity 
to be universal and particular, as we are all the creatures of his 
power, and consequently of his unalterable and unconditional 
love. 

Again, Universalists tell us, that the salvation of the Scriptures 
has nothing to do with eternity, but is wholly confined to this 
life ; as man's happy immortality after death was never other- 
wise than indubitably certain, not being liable to be effected by 
the thoughts or actions of the human soul in this present state 
of being, and was therefore not procured by Jesus Christ, in any 
sense of the word. If then salvation to the human race is not 
conditional, how comes it to pass, that even on the Universalist 
notion of the thing, there are but few who are saved, even here ? 
as most men are wicked, and far enough, even from a Univer- 
salist^ salvation ? We ask again, what does this mean 7 How is 
this possible 7 Why are not all human beings in a state of sal- 
vation, seeing it is not a conditional thing, as Universalists say ? 
To this we suppose they will answer, it is because men do not 
consider their ways, and seek after righteousness • or as Mr. 
Ballou calls it, they do not seek to have a divine process pass in 
the heart, so as thereby to be saved by it. Now, if this is the 
answer, namely, that men do not seek to have this divine pro- 
cess pass upon their hearts, then is not this o?nission the reason 
why they are not now saved 7 Most certainly, this is the rea- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 377 

son. If then this is the reason, is not salvation therefore condi- 
tional to all intents and purposes, inasmuch as it is to be sought 
in order to be possessed ? Universalists know as well as their 
opponents, that many men neglect religion altogether, and pass 
their whole lives in an utter aversion to it, and even die in this 
condition. Now, on their own view of the subject, such persons 
were never saved in their lifetime. And why were they not? 
This cannot be answered except in one way: it was because 
God did not see fit to save them, as he had need of their sins, 
with the view of the good of the great whole of the human race. 
If so, then their salvation was impossible. 

In our remarks on the fact of salvation, as opposed to the 
Universalists' ideas, we disallow entirely that the circumstance 
of the inevitable happiness of the human race in another world, 
as held by this people, is salvation at all; for salvation always 
supposes a rescue from danger ; and as these people hold it is 
not possible to put eternal happiness in jeopardy, as it respects 
all the human race, it is improper, therefore, to say that a place 
or admittance into heaven, is salvation at all. It would be 
highly improper to say that God is saved ; because he is happy, 
and cannot be otherwise than happy ; and it is equally improper 
and foolish, to talk about salvation, as it respects the human race, 
if their final happy condition after this life is as sure as the hap- 
piness of God is sure. Salvation, on this view, has no applica- 
tion to our case, no more than it has to God. If then the term, 
and the fact, are to be confined to this present state of things, 
we enquire, is it or is it not conditional ? Universalists will an- 
swer, as we fancy they are compelled to answer, that it is condi- 
tional, inasmuch as it is to be sought, or not had. Now as it is 
certain that many are never saved in this life, even as they view 
the thing, and pass out of time unsaved, it follows of necessity, 
that salvation is not unconditional nor universal, as Univer- 
salists boast and vainly hope. If it is unconditional, we ask 
with great surprise, why are not all bad men made good instant- 
ly, as God is good and powerful ? — and why have not all men 
been good in all ages, and from the very beginning, for the same 
reason? We cannot tell, except we give the Universalists' rea- 
son, and this is it, namely, that God has a use for every volition 
of man, good or bad, as we have shown already from Mr. Bal- 
lou's Treatise on Atonement. Now, if God has a use for every 
volition of man, whether sinful or not, it follows that there is no 
sin, and that the term salvation from sin is wholly inapplicable 
to the human race, even in this state of being ; and therefore, 
there is no salvation anywhere ; the term is a burlesque on the 
works of God, implying that he has need of something by way 
of repair ; which is folly, and cannot be admitted in relation to 
the proper and identical works of God. Now, this is pure 
Deism, a name which Universalists affect to despise, and con- 



378 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

sider as derogatory to them as a sect ; while in truth and in fact 
they are pure and radical deists in these respects, whether they 
know it or not. Deists are willing to admit, that Jesus Christ 
was a good teacher, and even a great philosopher, but nothing 
more ; and Universalists say the same thing, giving him the 
place of a mere man, and denying the vicarious nature of his 
death on the cross, and his deity : what else is this but Deism ? 
and is not Deism infidelity ? 

Universalists, as a people, lay great stress on the mercifulness 
of God to mankind, in relation to salvation ; yet by consequence 
of their sentiments, deny this very mercifulness. But how do 
they deny it? As follows, is our answer: they teach that with 
God there is no pardon for sin, inasmuch as every man must 
suffer to the full extent of the demerit of his actions in this life. 
Now, on this view, where is the room for mercy to enter ? Is 
it not excluded ? It is true, however, as a kind of palliation to so 
monstrous a notion, they say God forgives men their sins after 
they have suffered for them ; a thing as impossible as it is foolish. 
Just look at the idea for a moment : say a man has committed a 
sin, for which he suffers, or is suffering. Now when the suffer- 
ing is over, what more 1 Why pardon follows, say they. But 
suppose pardon should not follow, will he suffer on? O no ! 
because that would be unjust in God. By this we see that par- 
don, after suffering, is of no possible use, and therefore, is not 
called for, and is worse than a chimera ; because it shows up 
this all important trait of Christian theology in a light which is 
tantamount to a flat denial. 

Even Mr. Ballou has scouted this notion of forgiveness after 
suffering has been executed ; see Treatise on Atonement, p. 79, 
where, in ridiculing the common belief of sins being forgiven to 
men on account of the atonement : "But how (says he) can I 
forgive a mail a debt, and (yet) oblige him to pay it ? this is more 
than I can see." But on this subject, that of the atonement, 
Universalists will not see, that all it can do is to make it possible 
for God to pardon sinners, on condition of faith, repentance, and 
reformation. Without this atonement, we cannot have even 
this opportunity of salvation. If all the blessings of nature are 
extended to man on condition of acceptance and use, why not 
that of salvation, under the administration of the same God or 
governor of the Universe. 

To suffer according to the demerit of sin, is not salvation ; 
but pardon on the account of the merit of Jesus Christ is salva- 
tion ; if pardon, therefore, be rejected as a Scriptural doctrine, 
then salvation is not possible to any individual of the human 
race, as it is not applicable to their condition, being of no possi- 
ble use, any more than salvation can be of use to that which 
cannot be lost. 

Universalists, when pressed hard to make known the use of 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 379 

their preaching ; give for answer, that it is to save the people 
from the fear of hell in another world. Were _ they to answer, 
that it is to make the morals of the people better, this is refuted 
by their belief that God has a use for every evil volition of man's 
mind, and therefore are not called to better the works of God by 
reforming the morals of the human race. That God has a use 
for every volition of the human heart, is similar to an opinion 
of one of the ancient Gnostic sects ; which was, that to indulge 
all the propensities of our nature was the only true way to please 
the deity ; for they argued, that for this purpose the passions 
were given. 

But as to the use of Universalis! preaching, as above stated, 
which is, namely, to save the people from the fear of an ortho- 
dox hell, this answer is surely unphilosophic ; because, were all 
people to become Universalists, their preaching would be at an 
end, as there could be no further use for it. It is unphilosophic 
also, from another consideration ; which is, that the more man- 
kind are led to fear and tremble respecting their future happi- 
ness, the greater will be their surprise on being ushered from 
this state into a glorious heaven. Now, inasmuch as Univer- 
salists go about to take awav this fear, they go about to lessen 
the future happiness of a future state ; surely this is a work of 
retrogade supererogation, as strange as it is erroneous. Were 
this fear destroyed from the minds of the individuals of Chris- 
tendom, what might not be the demoralizing consequence^ 
Where there is no fear there is no reverence ; and where there 
is no reverence in morals there is no religious virtue ; conse- 
quently no spiritual religion : hence Universalists do not believe 
in spiritual, mysterious, and miraculous conversions, as do the 
orthodox sects ; which doctrine is taught by the Saviour him- 
self ; in his account of that change as given to one of the elders 
of the Jewish Sanhedrim, see John, hi. 3 : " Except a man be 
born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the king- 
dom of God." 

Now, were the countries of Christendom inhabited by a peo- 
ple who should not fear this hell of the Scriptures, as believed 
in by the orthodox sects, how long would it be ere they would 
in fact know or care any thing about Jesus Christ, so long as 
they should know that there is no hell in another world? We 
think it would be no great lapse of time. What a happy state 
of things this would be ; how men would rejoice in God, on 
account of his goodness and lenity to their crimes and sins ; 
how amazingly would this belief restrain the outbreakings of 
depraved nature ; it would soon be a universal paradise here 
below, on account of the free unrestrained operations of the ever 
active spirit of man let loose in all its powers, on the face of the 
earth ; which spirit is inclined to do evil, and that continually, 
according to the Scripture account of our natures. 



380 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

The Scriptures teach, that men should pray always, and in 
every thing give thanks to God : do Universalists, as a people, 
believe and practice this 1 We believe not ; as on their view of 
religion, there can be no possible use for it : for, say they, who 
can alter the mind of God, or inform him of anything by pray- 
ing — not seeming to know that prayer was ordained for the 
spiritual cultivation of the human soul, and is the very reason 
why God will not bestow religious blessings, except he be sought 
unto in this very way, in the name of Jesus Christ — where that 
name is known. 

Universalists believe that the death of Christ is of no use to 
mankind, only as the figurative meaning of that event is under- 
stood. To prove this we cite page 131, of Hosea Ballou's Trea- 
tise on Atonement, where he says — " The literal death of the 
man Christ Jesus is figurative ; and all the life we obtain by it, 
is by learning what is represented." Here, learning is put as 
the means of salvation ; whereas faith, by the New Testament, 
is put as the means, which is a principle very far in its nature 
from learning, knowledge, or information, in our opinion. 

We have always believed, that the ceremonies and sacrifices 
of the temple worship of the Jews, was figurative of the final, 
and one great sacrifice of the soul and body of Jesus Christ, for 
the sin of Adam, and for the sins of the whole world ; but here 
we are taught by Universalists, that the sacrifices of the Jewish 
religion, were the figures of nothing but a figure after all : 
where, therefore, is the end of this figurability of Universalists 7 
Suppose we were to understand all the Scriptures say about 
God, about heaven, and about moral obligation, as figurative ; 
even Universalists might object, yet, to us, it apppears that the 
Scriptures are not less definite about the vicarious and expia- 
tory death of Jesus Christ, than they are about the being of God, 
the reality of heaven, and moral obligations. 

The New Testament Scriptures, teach that repentance toward 
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, are the conditions of 
salvation ; but Universalists say, that the condition is the under- 
standing of a figure, which implies neither repentance or faith, 
but a mere trait of information only. This is Gnosticism, or 
salvation acquired by knowledge, as held by the Gnostics — a sect 
of spurious Christians, which overrun many countries, in the 
first ages of Christianity. On this plan as set forth by Mr. Bal- 
lou, how few even in Christendom, are there who can be saved, 
as the death of Christ can do no good to any man, only as he 
can understand the abstruse, allegorical and figurative meaning 
of matters too high for the entire comprehension of the human 
mind. Even Mr. Ballou himself, at the very moment of his 
writing the above sentiment, was far from being sure of his own 
salvation, as attainable in this life ; inasmuch as he was not 
absolutely certain, that he did fully and completely understand 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 381 

the figurative meaning of Christ's death. But on the orthodox 
plan of faith, the simple as well as the wise may be saved ; as 
faith in its very nature, supposes something materially different 
from knowledge, and is in a manner, a confession of ignorance ; 
on which very account, reliance or faith has its existence. On 
this plan, the ignorant may come to God as well as the wise ; 
believing his word and crediting those things in his word, 
which are too high for their understanding, (as did Abraham,) 
as are many subjects of true theology. Is not this a better way 
than to expect salvation by mere knowledge, or by the under- 
standing of abstruse figures, and better adapted to the universal 
condition of mankind 1 We leave the reader to decide, even 
though a Universalist. 

Universalists do not believe that the conduct of human beings, 
whether good or bad in this life, can in any way affect their con- 
dition in eternity, as being either revvardable or punishable; yet 
says Mr. Ballou, in his Treatise on Atonement, page 144, in 
speaking of "atoning grace/' says, "it opens a door of everlas- 
ting hope, and conducts the soul, by way of the cross, to immor- 
tality and eternal life." Now this sentence is admitting, in the 
fullest sense, that salvation in another world is conditional; 
because he ascribes it to atoning grace ; which grace, had it 
never been manifested, no door of hope about immortality and 
eternal life could ever have been opened ; and if no door had 
been opened, then no soul could ever enter into such a state, 
consequently salvation is conditional, depending on " atoning 
grace." The chief inconsistency, however, of the above senti- 
ment, consists in ascribing eternal salvation to grace ; as eter- 
nal salvation, according to Universalist doctrine, was never 
placed in relation to the human race, in any other attitude than 
that of absolute certainty, without reference to any condition or 
circumstance whatever, other than the eternal will of God : to 
say it is of grace, therefore, on account of any medium, is to 
contradict, point blank, this indubitable certainty, and overturns 
their opinion of unconditional salvation, inasmach as atoning 
grace, may or may not be received, as the human soul may 
elect, as the Scriptures teach — which say : " Give diligence to 
make your calling and election sure. . . . for so an entrance shall 
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting king- 
dom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2d Peter, i. 10, 11. 
On the Universalist plan, "immortality and eternal life" is just 
as sure to all mankind, without this "door of hope ;" without the 
way of the cross, and without "atoning grace," as with it; for 
they do not hold that the death of Jesus Christ procured any- 
thing for the world in relation to this thing, but was merely an 
attestation of good wishes, but not in any sense vicarious or 
expiatory. 

28 



382 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

The Scriptures, in both the Old and New Testaments, speak 
much of the merciful disposition of God toward mankind. But 
this is entirely contradicted by the theory of Universalists ; inas- 
much as they hold that each sinner, from Adam down to the last 
human being which may be born into the world, must suffer ac- 
cording to the demerit of each sin, in their own souls and per- 
sons ; by which doctrine mercy is excluded altogether from the 
earth, or rather never had an entrance here, unless it is contend- 
ed that a privilege to suffer is the mercy of God ; which to us 
however, appears a great and very curious absurdity. 

If it is true that God has a use for every volition of the human 
heart, whether good or bad, as stated in Mr. Ballou's Treatise 
on Atonement, as follows : " The Almighty has a good intention 
in every volition of man," how is it, therefore, that it can be 
shown sl just thing, that any man, however sinful, should suffer, 
as by it God's good intention is carried into effect? To this a 
Universalist will reply, by saying, however sinful each wicked 
volition of each individual of the human race may be, they are 
nevertheless, when considered as a great whole, not at all sinful. 
But to this we reply in our turn and say, that which is not sin- 
ful as a great whole, cannot be sinful in its parts, as this would 
be a contradiction in the very nature of the thing, and therefore 
absurd. 

On the subject of man's becoming a sinful creature, Univer- 
salists, who have given themselves the trouble to make out a 
theory on this subject, have the following curious opinions: 
They believe that when God created Christ, long before the 
creation of this world and of man, that he created man in Christ ; 
at which time, and in which condition, the lata of the spirit of 
life was the whole governing principle of his nature. But at 
this time, when so created in Christ, man as yet had no form or 
tangible being, yet was in a condition in which the law of the 
spirit of life was his governing principle ; however difficult this 
is to be conceived of, so they think it was. But after this first 
creation, in which man was good, — God, as if not satisfied with 
him, reduced him to a state of flesh and blood, or to a state of 
formation ; in which condition, the law of sin became the gov- 
erning principle of the Whole man. In this condition, it appears 
the great Supreme does not like him, half as well as before; and 
accordingly institutes the gospel to bring him back again from 
this formed condition, and from under the law of sin, to his 
original state of being: in Christ, before he had any tangible ex- 
istence, or was placed on the earth, as stated by Moses. 

That we are not mistaken about their views on this subject, 
we quote Hosea Ballou, from his Treatise on Atonement, page 
145, as follows : « I. God created man in Christ the Mediator, 
in which creation, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
was the whole governing principle of his nature. 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 383 

2d. After the creation of man in this divine constitution, it 
pleased the Almighty to reduce him to a state of formation in 
flesh and blood, in which constitution the law of sin . . . .became 
the governing principle of the whole man. 

3d. God has revealed his divine and glorious purpose of 
bringing man back from his formed state, and from under the 
law of the earthly Adam, to his original created state, forever 
to be under the governing power of the law of the heavenly 
constitution." 

Now what are the errors of this invention, about the introduc- 
tion of sin into the world? They are as follows : 1st. It sup- 
poses that Christ, the Eternal word, was at some vast distance 
of past eternity, created and brought into being ; which is absurd, 
unless we can suppose there was a time when God had no word, 
or in other words, no power, notwithstanding the Scriptures 
state plainly that — "In the beginning was the word, and the word 
was with God, and the word was God. And the word was made 
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as 
of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth." St. 
John i. 1, 14. Now, as to this beginning, — what was it? Uni- 
versalists will probably say, it was the time when God made his 
own word, or power, or in other words, when he made Christ. 
But the orthodox sects, say it was the time when Christ, the 
word, the power of God began first of all to make angels — the 
first spirits of heaven — and subsequently, all worlds, with their 
various inhabitants. This we prove from the same chapter, 
verse 3, as follows : "All things were made by him, (Christ) and 
without him was not anything made that was made." Conse- 
quently he made angels, as well as men, and all things else, 
which can be called being, himself excepted ; as God, and the 
word of God, or the power of God, is independent, and self-ex- 
istent — a being without a cause. So that we perceive their first 
error, namely, that Christ was created, is a palpable one, of the 
first magnitude ; setting forth as if God created his own word, 
or power, which, in, and of itself, is absurd. To this sense, 
respecting the deity of Christ, there is no contradiction, as sup- 
posed by Universalists, in the 14th verse of the 3d of Revelation, 
which calls him the " Beginning of the Creation of God ;" as if 
God created him ; when the truth is, the passage means that 
Christ, the word, and power of God, was the beginner of the 
Creation of God, instead of being created, and is properly the 
king of all created beings. He even created his own body, in 
which he afterwards appeared ; as it is said, a body hast thou 
prepared for me. 

A second error is therefore, that man was never so created, as 
supposed above, by Mr. Ballou ; for if Christ was not created, it 
follows of necessity, that man was never created in him — in the 
sense of the above author — before he was made flesh and blood, 



384 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

as we find him in the garden of Eden. This also makes con- 
fusion with the account of man's condition, as given by Moses, 
when it is said, that « the Lord God formed man of the dust of 
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and 
man became a living soul," or spirit. Gen. ii. 7. But, says the 
reader, how does the confusion appear, as spoken above ? It ap- 
pears in his having two spirits; the first spirit, which was made 
in Christ, before he was formed of dust, and the second spirit, 
after he was formed of dust, and thus the confusion is made 
out ; because a man with two souls, or two spirits, would be a 
monster, as well as a man with two bodies. 

And third, it makes God the direct author of sin ; not only of 
sin as a great whole, but of sin in each individual of the human 
race, by fixing it into the nature of the first individual from whom 
each individual was to proceed, till the birth of the last human 
being, while time shall endure. It shows up the Divine being 
in a changeable light ; inasmuch as the opinion makes it out that 
God did not like man, as he was in his first created condition in 
Christ, before he was formed of the dust, although he was then 
wholly under the law of the spirit of life, and consequently 
took him out of that first condition, and reduced him to flesh and 
blood — in which condition, the law of sin, was made to wholly 
govern him. And now, according to Mr. Ballou, he did not 
like him, and therefore, has instituted the gospel to bring him 
back again to his first condition, as he was before he was made 
of dust, and if he might not even then be suited with him, who 
can tell what next the Supreme Being may see fit to reduce him 
to. To substantiate this opinion, that of man's existence, before 
he was reduced to an earthly creation, he refers the reader to the 
second chapter of Genesis, fifth verse, where it is said : " And 
there was not a man to till the ground." From that place, he 
infers that the account of the creation of Adam and Eve, as 
given in the first chapter, relates entirely to Adam's having first 
been created in Christ, before he was reduced from that condi- 
tion to a condition of flesh and blood. But this inference is 
disallowed, when we examine that first chapter in relation to 
this thing, which is as follows, see verse 26 : "And God said let 
w make man in our image, after our likeness ; let Aim have 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, 
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every 
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." 

Now if the notion of Mr. Ballou is the right notion on this 
subject, we enquire in what way could man, or could Adam and 
Eve, have exerted their delegated government and control of 
the animals of the earth, if at that time they existed only in the 
fanciful and chimerical manner he has represented? And more 
than this, how could they have, in that condition, multiplied, 
replenished, and subdued the earth, governed the animals, <fcc? 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 385 

The thing was impossible, and therefore untrue; by which we 
ascertain that the account of man's creation, as given in theirs* 
chapter, is the same as in the second, with only this difference, 
in the second the manner how it was done is stated, namely, of 
dust, while in the first, the fact only, while the manner is de- 
layed in the account, a few lines further on. 

That man was thus created before he was created, is con- 
tended by Mr. Ballou, on page 35 of his Treatise on Atone- 
ment) the most unproveable opinion ever started by man, and 
the most chimerical, as appears to us. He thinks, because it is 
said in Gen. i. 26, that man was made in the image of God, 
and because it is said, Heb. i. 2, 3, that the Son of God is the ex- 
press image of the person of God, that consequently Christ the 
Mediator, was the first human soul ever created. But this can- 
not be true, as it has for a consequence this wonderful conclu- 
sion, namely, that the soul of Adam was and is the Mediator 
between God and man, and is in truth the man Christ Jesus. 
We prove this to be his opinion, from his own statement, in his 
Treatise on Atonem,ent, page 123, as follows: "It is plain to 
me, from Scripture, that the Mediator is the first human soul 
which was created." But this is refuted, when it is recollected 
that the body of Adam was formed before we hear anything about 
his soul ; see Gen. ii. 7, "And the Lord God formed man of the 
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
(animal) life, and man became a living (immortal and intellec- 
tual) soul. Here is no intimation of the soul of Adam having 
been in existence before his body was made ; nay, the very for- 
mation of the sentence shows point blank, that it was created, 
and produced by the mighty power of God, which was Christ 
the eternal word subsequent to the formation of his body, inas- 
much as it reads thus : "and man became a living soul f which 
form of speech shows its progression at that identical time, into 
being, under the Almighty hand ; and that it had no previous 
existence as supposed by Mr. Ballou. On this view, namely, 
that God created Christ, and then that Christ created all things 
else, there follows another exceedingly curious result, which is, 
that Christ created himself; for it is said of him — John, i. 3 — 
that "all things were made by him; and without him was not 
any thing made that was made f and consequently he must 
have made himself, if he is not the self-existent God, or the 
Scripture as above quoted is not true, which says Christ made 
all things, and includes himself if he is a created being, and is 
included in the idea of all things. 

That man's soul, or that the first human soul which was 
made was not Christ the Mediator, as supposed and plainly 
stated by Mr. Ballou, appears from another quarter ; see John 
xvii. 5, as follows: "And now, O Father, (of my humanity) 
glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had 



386 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

with thee before the world was." Here it is proven that Christ 
existed before the creation of this earth, or mundane system. 
But as it respects the first human soul, it was not made till the 
whole world was finished, animals and all ; when on the sixth 
day of creation the body of Adam was made, and the soul 
brought forth from non-existence immediately after, and united 
with it. Wherefore we think we have overturned the idea of 
Christ having been created, as well also as that he was theirs* 
human soul which was created ; and refutes the idea of man's 
heavenly nature existing before it did exist in his soul, as first 
produced at the time his body and soul were united in the terres- 
tial paradise. 

But as to the image of God, in which man was at first created, 
we ought to give our opinion, inasmuch as we have contra- 
dicted the opinion of others. We think it was simply the im- 
mortality of the soul, together with its intellectuality and free 
agency, in which respects it is the image of God. This opinion 
also includes the body of man, as it is to be raised from the dead ; 
and the same numerical particles, which for a time the spirit is 
to be separated from, are to assume a different mode of exist- 
ence, which as mere matter, considered abstractedly from the 
spirit, cannot be shown to have been affected by the change 
Galled death ; and therefore this vehicle of the ever living spirit, 
is, as to its endless being from the time of its creation, equally 
the image of God with the soul. Therefore it is said that man, 
including both soul and body, and reasoning faculties, was made 
in the image of God. Bat says one. and possibly a Hicksite 
Friend, what reason can there be in raising up the very same 
body from the grave, which died and was buried there, and 
soon returned to dust as it was? where is the propriety of such 
a supposition? We answer this as follows : will it not be an in- 
gredient in the happiness of the blessed, that indentity, as well of 
body as of mind shall then exist? will it not be to the praise of 
the glory of God, that the very evidence of Christ's victory over 
death shall be ever present among the hosts of heaven ? is it not 
a virtue and a pleasure, when a poor miserable wretch, who is 
suddenly exalted to great opulence and power, should preserve 
the remembrance of his former poverty, and thus have the cause 
of both praise and humility ever before his eyes? The same, 
so far as this simile can apply, may be supposed of the resur- 
rection bodies of the saints. It must be a pleasure, that the 
same bodies and minds which were originated together in the 
earth, were redeemed together, did acts of worship, homage and 
praise together, were afflicted together, should be together in 
fairer worlds than this, to be the evidence of the state from 
whence they were raised up to eternal glory by the death and 
merits of Jesus Christ. All the distinctness of limb and counte- 
nance, for identity's sake, must accompany a resurrection of 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 387 

the body. Whether the subject were in infancy, youth, or old 
age, male or female, whether great or small, there must remain 
the traits of identity — which very circumstance will greatly en- 
hance the happiness of the saved, as by this means they can 
know each other. 

The same argument will apply in relation to the damned ; 
the same bodies which must then accompany the same mind, 
which agreed so well together in acts of sin and depravity. 
Therefore not only teeth for identity's sake, but all the limbs, 
with the countenance, attitudes and gestures, must and will ac- 
company the mind through all the dismal journey of eternal 
damnation, as the evidence of their origin on earth, and of the 
opportunities they there enjoyed of having secured a better in- 
heritance, and also the use they made of such opportunities; 
which reflections will cause them to gnash their teeth, and blas- 
pheme the righteous judge of their doom ; and thus possibly 
we see the reason of that singular expression — gnash their teeth 
for pain. 

But as it respects the Scriptures, which state that Jesus Christ 
is the express image of the person of God, they are to be under- 
stood in a much higher sense ; for while man has but few traits 
of the eternal God, Christ has all the traits of that being. Now 
mark what is said in Hebrews on this point, respecting the 
true character and person of Christ, as follows : "Who being- 
the brightness oi his (God's) glory, and the express image of 
his person," &c. In the account of man's being the image of 
God, as given in Genesis, there are no such statements as ex- 
press image, brightness of his glory, &c, which sufficiently 
marks the immense difference there is between the sense in 
which man is the image of God, and that in which Christ is his 
image. 

Mr. Ballon seems to believe, on page 151 of his Treatise on 
Atonement^ that could it be shown in Scripture that a soul on 
leaving this life in an unsanctified and unprepared condition, 
cannot in eternity be altered for the better, that it would present 
a formidable, if not an unanswerable objection to universal sal- 
vation ; but avers that no such Scripture can be found. To 
prove this, we have no idea of quoting what he calls an addition 
to the Scriptures, which reads, "as the tree falls so it lies; as 
death leaves us, so judgment will finds us ;" as we do not know 
that it can be found in the Bible ; yet there are passages having 
pretty much that meaning, which we will now present the read- 
er. " For what is man profited, if he shall gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul ; or what shall a man give in exchange 
for his soul ?" Matth. xvi. 26. The same is stated by St. Luke, 
ix. 25. " For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole 
world and lose himself, or be a castaway ?" That these passa- 
ges do not allude to the loss of one's natural life, is clear ; be- 



388 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

cause all men, both rich and poor, must and do die, and there- 
fore the terms "lose himself, or be a castaway," cannot refer to 
this fact. It most evidently has a moral allusion, therefore, and 
alludes to the penal death of the soul in another world. There 
is no other sense in which the terms castaway can be understood, 
as there is hope in all cases, while there is life remaining:, on 
which account the terms are inapplicable to any temporal con- 
dition. No man can lose his soul in this life, or, if the reader 
please, no man can lose his life, while he is alive. It is clear, 
therefore, the loss cannot be sustained except when temporal 
life is past, and in another world. This is what St. Paul meant 
when he said, ■" But I keep my body under, and bring it into 
subjection, least that by any means, when 1 have preached to 
others, I myself should be a cast-away." 1 Cor. ix. 27. Now 
did this Apostle mean by the words cast-away, temporal death? 
By no means ; as however much he might keep his body under 
temporal death could not be avoided. It remains, therefore, that 
he meant by the terms cast-away, damnation after death, and 
nothing else but this. There are other passages which go to 
show the loss of the soul after death, as in Luke xvi. 23, where 
is an account of the death and damnation of the soul of a cer- 
tain rich man, of whom it is said that he died, " and in hell he 
lifted up his eyes, (instinctive knowlege of the condition he was 
in,) being in torments. . .tormented in this flame" Much in- 
genuity has been expended by Universalists, to do away the ev- 
idence it gives of such a state after death, but evidently very far 
fetched, and without the least plausibility. Could they but find 
one passage in all the Bible half as plain as it relates to the really 
unconditional salvation of all mankind, they would seize upon it 
as upon hid treasure; but it cannot be found. It cannot be ap- 
plied to the Gentiles, as their condition was a condition of hope; 
for they were promised to the Messiah, who was to reign over 
them in the fullness of time, which he could not do if they were 
in hell. The hell they were in could not be the grave, as in it 
there is no suffering ; it could not have been a guilty conscience 
suffering in this life, as in such a case there is hope ; while in 
the case of the damnation of this rich man's soul, the text offers 
no kind of hope, when it says that an impassable gulf inter- 
vened between him and a happy state. Also in Luke xii. 20, is 
an account of another rich man, who had promised himself a 
long and luxurious life, in the enjoyment of his wealth; but as 
it was seen of God that he so unboundedly trusted to his wealth, 
to the exclusion of the support of the Supreme Being, it was 
seen fit to take him from the earth, as we learn from the above 
Scripture, where it is said in relation to him, " Thou fool, this 
night shall thy soul be required of thee." 

Concerning these two cases as above alluded to, even though 
they could be said to be parables, which, however, we believe 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 389 

cannot be made out — yet they must be considered as true, as no 
parable can convey a false doctrine and have God for its author, 
by the use of over strained language — which is done in Luke, 
16 — if there is no hell; for the terms, "hell" " tormented in 
this flame" &c. or flames, is language altogether too severe 
and horrible to be applied to any condition of man in this life — 
Jew or Gentile — saint or sinner — savage or civilized. 

Now if it is impossible that any soul of man can be a cast- 
away after death, as Universalists believe, then the above quoted 
Scriptures are without meaning, as according to them no place 
or condition, either in this life or in that which is to come, can 
the soul of man be considered as cast away, or as wholly lost, 
which is the meaning of the term. It would appear that the 
Revelator believed this thing possible, when he says, Rev. xx. 6, 
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, 
on such the second death hath no power." The second death 
in this place, it appears, is to take place after the first resurrec- 
tion ; which first resurrection is that of the saints, as stated by 
St. Paul, 1st Thes. iv. 16, "the dead in Christ shall rise first." 
But those who are not privileged with a resurrection at that 
time will not be considered the dead in Christ, and will there- 
fore be hurt by the second death, which is damnation in hell, 
from which we have heard of no deliverance, and is to be con- 
summated in a lake, or ocean, or world of fire and brimstone, 
which is the second death. * The first death was that of the 
fall of the whole human race in Adam ; the second death will 
be that death which will follow this life, and will be visited upon 
all such as shall, in the estimation of God, be guilty of finally 
rejecting his offers of mercy in his Son, when his mediation 
shall have ended, which will end at the time of the final judg- 
ment, or end of the world. 

To lessen the force of this last quotation — Rev. xx. 6 — there 
need be no attempt made by Universalists, because it is found in 
the book of Revelation ; for Ballou, Balfour, and the best writers 
of the order, quote that book freely, wherever it suits their pur- 
pose, therefore it must be authentic and good Scripture. 

" Fear God who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." 
Matth. x. 28. "But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear : 
fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell ; 
yea, I say unto you fear him." Luke, xii. 5. Now, if as Mr. 
Ballou seems to believe, the souls of wicked persons leaving the 
world in that condition, are to be privileged with an opportunity 
of further improvement, in a moral point of light, it appears they 
are to take their first lesson in hell ; and whether they will im- 
prove fast enough ever to get out, is extremely doubtful, as we 
have no intimation that the judgments of God is to be reversed 
or mitigated, but the contrary, which is eternal — Heb. vi. 2. 

29 



390 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

That the best writers among Universalists do believe that the 
wicked, leaving this life in that character, may be converted after 
death, we prove from Mr. Ballou's Treatise on Atonement, page 
169, as follows : " Why the idea has become so general, that 
souls cannot be enlightened and converted from sin to holiness 
after the death of the body, is difficult for me to determine." 
Here we see this writer admits the belief, and contends for it, 
and could he but perceive it, yields to the idea of there being a 
hell in another world, inasmuch as in the above sentence he 
admits that human souls may be in a sinful state, and conse- 
quently in an unhappy and miserable one in eternity, even from 
his own showing, for he says that sin and misery are insepara- 
ble. But that such may be the case, is extremely improbable, 
on account of powerful Scripture intimations to the contrary, 
which we have already shown, and still proceed to show — see 
Ecc. xi. 3 : " And if the tree fall toward the south or toward the 
north, in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be." 
Respecting this quotation from Ecclesiastes, are we to imagine 
that it means no more than to inform men that a tree will lie 
still on the ground when cut down, if nobody don't draw it away, 
till it rots ; or are we to gather from it that the spirit of inspira- 
tion, intends by the figure to apply it to the final characters of 
the human race after death ; and as the natural position of a 
tree when felled to the earth is inherently an unalterable one, 
so also is the condition of all human souls, who pass from time 
to eternity, retaining without end the same characters, whether 
good or bad, in which they leave this life. If so, then we have 
a meaning worthy inspiration ; but if it apply simply to a tree, 
and the manner of its lying on the ground, it appears to us a 
very simple communication indeed. But, if we have hit the 
right meaning of the passage, we think we can corroborate it 
still further than we have already done ; see Heb. ix. 27 : " It 
is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." 
But what kind of a judgment is that to be which is to take place 
after death ? We will let St. Paul inform us ; see 2d Cor. v. 10 : 
" For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that 
every one may receive the things done in his body, according to 
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." It is useless for 
Universalists to pretend that this is done every hour and every 
day, as in that case the Apostle could not have put it in the future 
even after death, as he has done, but would have written, that 
men do noio appear before the judgment seat of Christ, in the 
present tense ; which he has not done, as Universalists wish he 
had. This was a doctrine believed by Solomon, who lived a 
thousand years before the time of Christianity, (and five hundred 
years before the time of Zoroaster.) as appears from the last 
verse of the last chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, who says 
that " God shall bring every work into judgment, with every 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 391 

secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." This is 
also put in the future, the same as St. Paul has stated the doe- 
trine, and cannot therefore be in this life. 

That the wicked, departing this life in that character, are never 
to change for the better, or be converted in eternity, we further 
show from Rev. xxii. 11, as follows : " He that is unjust let him 
be unjust still and he which is filthy let him be filthy still, and 
he that is righteous let him be righteous still, and he that is holy 
let him be holy still." That this statement of the Revelator is 
intended to be applied to the moral condition of the souls of men 
after death, is evident from the fact, that in no period of human 
life, does the word of God so fix the conditions of men as that 
it can be said of them, " he that is filthy let him be filthy still f 
or, " he that is unjust let him be unjust still ;" as if at some 
period of life, it were impossible after that to reform one's char- 
acter. It is in vain to apply this Scripture to the overthrow of 
the Jews by the Romans, because it was not written till about 
twenty years after that occurrence, according to the best authors 
on that subject, as we have before shown. This sense of the 
quotation is confirmed by Jesus Christ to the Revelator, in the 
verse next ensuing, who says, " Behold I come quickly, and my 
reward is with me, to give every man according as his work 
shall be." But says the reader, how can this Scripture be ap- 
plied to the day of judgment, on account of its saying, " Behold 
I come quickly? as if it were expected this should be fulfilled 
immediately ? It can be applied in this vmy, the Christian dis- 
pensation is the last dispensation of the earth ; or as it is said in 
another place, " it is the last time ;" which dispensation will 
soon be over, when the end will come ; and then shall every 
man receive according to his doings, and if found filthy and 
unjust, so he must remain, for all any light the Scriptures give 
on this subject to the contrary. We have not the least possible 
doubt that the 46th verse of the 25th of St. Matthew has this 
very subject in view when it says, " And these shall go away 
into (eternal or) everlasting punishment, but the righteous into 
life (everlasting or) eternal." Now if these are to go away into 
eternal punishment, which is according to the original, it is 
impossible to be understood otherwise, as every educated Uni- 
versalist or orthodox scholar well knows ; how is it therefore 
possible, that the idea, as suggested by Mr. Ballou, of conversion 
after death, is in any way admissible \ And if not, then an in- 
surmountable barrier is opposed to universal, unconditional sal- 
vation, sure enough, even according to Mr. Ballou's own admis- 
sion. It is, however, proper for lis in this place to state, that 
after Mr, Ballou had written his Treatise on Atonement, in 
which he has suggested the possibility of men's dying in their 
sins, and of their being converted after death, as above noticed, 
that he has seen fit in his preface of that work to draw back a 



392 HISTORY OF THJfi FALLBW 

little from the position, and rather to disallow either; as no 
doubt he found out that it was in reality admitting the existence 
of too much hell after death, as he says sin and misery are not 
to be separated. In relation to this we remark, that it is likely 
Mr. Ballon and his coadjutors in opinions, had not exactly made 
up their minds to believe in the grand salvo of the resurrection, 
which is to save all, both good and bad, and to fit them for hea- 
ven. Thus we see that it is a thriving system, and to what size 
it may yet arrive is hard to guess. 

But we come now to notice one of the strangest vagaries on 
theology ever propagated as sober truth , and this is the opinion 
of Universalists about the fire of the New Testament, into which 
sinners are there threatened to be cast, and to be burnt without 
end. We will quote a few passages, and then state their belief 
of their meaning. " And now, also, the axe is laid unto the root 
of the trees, therefore every tiee which bringeth not forth good 
fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." Matthew, iii. 10, 
Also, in verse 12, it is said of Jesus Christ, that " he will tho- 
roughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner ; 
but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire" u And if 
thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and east it from thee : for 
it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, 
and not thy whole body should be cast into hell.' 7 Matth. v. 29, 
« But whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell 
fire" Verse 22. Also, in Mark, chap. ix. verses 43, 44, 45, 46, 
47, 48, the subject of the fire of hell, which is there called un- 
quenchable, is over and over repeated, in the same form of speech, 
and set forth as a state of distress and punishment, as well as the 
other passages before quoted on the subject of hell fire. But 
what think ye is the opinion of Universalists of all these passa- 
ges, and others like them, as found in all the Scriptures 1 Why 
that they denote salvation, the fire of God's love, &c; which, 
were it so, all we can reply is, that the wicked in the New Tes- 
tament, are threatened with nothing less than eternal salvation 
for all their sins ; a circumstance remarkably calculated to re- 
form the wicked wherever they may chance to be read. Accor- 
ding to this opinion, the hell fire which can never be quenched, 
and into which the wicked, which are called chaff, are threat- 
ened with being cast, is the love of God, the happiness of the 
Christian religion, and salvation. To prove Universalists be- 
lieve this, see Ballou's Treatise on Atonement, pages 161 to 
167 inclusive. Of this belief, says Mr. Ballon, "I am as fully 
persuaded, . . • as 1 am of any idea in all my study." 

If threatenings and premises mean the same thing, then vir- 
tue and vice are but one, rewards and punishment are the 
same, heaven and hell are the same, God and the devil are but 
one and the same being, saint and sinner are but the same char- 
acters, moral government is a farce, accountability is nothing, 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 393 

farther than a mere accountability to one's self, and even this is 
of no mortal use : angels are men, and men are devils, and devils 
are saints ; because men are saints, the fall is no fall, sin is not 
sin, death is an enemy, yet was appointed of God, Christ was a 
mere man, and needed salvation as well as others ; there is no 
free agency, all is fate, all is one great machine, all is according 
to the will and desire of God ; and yet sin, it is argued, exists. 
Thus Universalist arguments on the Scriptures, jumble and con- 
found truth and error, without end, object, or aim, so far as we 
are able to understand their views ; on which account we con- 
sider their system a system of infidelity, of the most complex, 
confused and bewildering description, ever propagated amongst 
men. 

Here also we will state that Mr. Ballou in the preface of his 
book on Atonement, has in a measure, recanted, in relation to 
the fire, so often spoken of in the New Testament ; which, in the 
body of that work, he says was that fire which purifies the 
soul of man, but that he now thinks it wholly applicable to 
the ruin of the Jews, and their suffering. Here also we discover 
the instability of these writers : they seem to have but little con- 
dence, after all, in their strange dogmas ; and that which they 
write at one time, they will perhaps disallow at another ; but 
whether their alterations will be better or worse, we shall have 
to wait and see before we can tell : as it respects the above draw- 
backs, we do not perceive that he has bettered the matter at all. 

In a certain place, it is said by St. Paul, that if in this life, 
Christians have hope only, that of all men they were the most 
miserable. Now on the ground of Universalism, had not Paul 
have been far happier, and better off, if he had abandoned Chris- 
tianity ? — as from his own statement, he has made out that he 
and his fellows were the most miserable of men, except the hope 
they had of heaven, if they proved faithful to the end. But 
according ta Universalists, Paul had no more hope than any 
other man ; as heaven was sure to all alike : was he not there- 
fore foolish that he did not abandon it ? It is of no use for Uni- 
versalists to say that St. Paul was happy in the midst of his 
sorrows ; for Paul himself, has said that he and his fellows were 
of all men the most miserable, without that hope : and as Uni- 
versalists do not allow that heaven is to be a reward, for what 
a man may suffer here for righteousness' sake, — we perceive that 
Paul's hope, (with that of all Christians,) was not a reason why 
they should suffer, as Christians, so much misery, as he speaks 
of ; consequently they suffered as fools, if Universalism is true. 

A greater deception was never practiced, than is practiced by 
Universalist writers ; who, when they find any general expres- 
sions of Scripture, making large, free, and full promises to the 
righteous, who have complied with the conditions, immediately 
seise upon it, and claim it for all, both good and bad — uncondi- 



394 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

tionally. One such text, we will here exhibit, upon which Uni- 
versalists seize as a key text, by which they explain many others, 
in the same way. This text is Gen. xii. 3 : "And I will bless 
them that bless thee, (Abraham) and curse them that curse thee, 
and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Now 
on this text, they claim universal salvation for each individual 
of the human race, as if anything short of this could not be a 
blessing, though ever so much opportunity were afforded to all 
the families of the earth, and to such persons as should choose to 
abuse the blessing of opportunity, to be saved — could be no bless- 
ing. But to show that this promise was, after all, a conditional 
one, as it related to certain salvation in heaven, we quote Gal. 
iii. 8, 9, where it is found that faith was to be the condition of 
salvation. The text reads: "And the Scripture foreseeing 
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached 
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations 
be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with 
faithful Abraham." 

Here it is shown by St. Paul himself, who wrote by the inspi- 
ration of the Holy Ghost, that though the promise to Abraham 
included all the families of the earth, yet not one of those families 
could be saved, except they should have the faith of faithful 
Abraham : and which of all the Universalist Rabbies can prove 
that God would compel them to believe, or to have faith in the 
Saviour — the seed of Abraham? 

If the salvation of the Scriptures is not to be extended to indi- 
viduals of the human race, conditionally, then it would appeal 
to us, that in the economy of God's government of the world , 
means should have been arbitrarily taken, as early as the apos- 
tacy of Adam, if not before, to have rendered it impossible for sin 
to have taken place, if God does not like it — and that he does 
not, is shown from the Scripture, where it is said that God can- 
not look upon sin with the least allowance — hence, he was not 
its author, as he is not pleased with it. 

There being many Scriptures which speak of the restitution 
of all things, and that all nations are yet to serve Christ, and that 
all tears shall be wiped from all eyes, and that there shall be no 
more sorrow nor crying, — they are to be understood as coming to 
pass conditionally, and as nationally. What though all nations 
may yet serve Christ, before the millennium, yet this does not 
prove that every individual will do so, or that every individual 
will certainly be saved, even in this life, according to the Univer- 
salist view of salvation, because tears are to be wiped from all 
eyes ; for it is to be understood after all, that tears can be wiped 
only from such eyes as weep ; the wicked do not weep much in 
this* life, — it is the righteous who weep, because it is through 
great tribulation that they enter into the kingdom : but not so 
the wicked, as they are not plagued as are the righteous, nor 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 395 

chastened, nor scourged, as sons that they may be received at last. 

As to the times of the restitution of all things in the earth, it is 
to be understood in relation to the rectifying of the disorders and 
wretchedness, sin has produced in the world, the ignorance of 
mankind, their want of civil governments, in which the rights 
of man are to be known and respected, as are at present in the 
countries of Christendom — the lands of the Bible — and in no 
others to the same extent : all of which, we owe to God, through 
Jesus Christ. 

This will be a restitution good enought to suit a Universalist, 
as common morality is all the religion a man needs, or that the 
Scriptures speak of — as they teach the people— and such will be 
a restitution good enough to answer the fulfilment of the text on 
that subject, which the reader may find Acts, iii. 20, 21, and 
reads thus : " And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was 
preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive (retain) until 
the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by 
the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world (the earth) 
began ; for Enoch was a prophet, and lived before the flood. 

The phraseology of the above text, shows plainly, that from 
time to time, or from period to period, called collectively, times of 
restitution, the influence of religious truth shall prevail in the 
earth, till all things relative to human happiness — so far as a 
state of good morals can bring about — shall be restored, and man 
as a great whole, be temporarily happy, or at least, shall know 
the rights of both God and men — which, as yet, they have not 
fully known. 

Till this is done by the influence of the Bible, the heaven must 
retain Jesus Christ, when he will come to gather in one, all 
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in 
earth. This text is found Eph. i. 10. By the things in earth, 
we understand the souls of men and their bodies, who have had 
the faith of Abraham in its essence ; and whether dead or living 
when Christ shall come from the heaven now retaining him, 
they shall be gathered from the four winds, or from all parts of 
the earth and the sea to him, to ascend to heaven. As to the 
things in heaven, which are also to be gathered into Christ, or 
by Christ, we understand the souls of all such as have died in 
the faith of Abraham, and are now in paradise ; which we have 
before said in this work, is situated in the heaven all round the 
globe, where they are kept till the resurrection, when they and 
those on the earth shall be all brought together, to ascend to the 
final heaven of eternal happiness, with Christ, the head and 
captain of their salvation. Or it may be that the expressions all 
nations shall serve Christ, means the glorious time of the mil- 
lenium, which is to endure a thousand years, when truly all 
nations will serve Christ. But allowing they will, this circum- 
stance cannot benefit such nations and individuals as have not 



396 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

served him. Because one man or nation is good, does that cir- 
cumstance ensure that good man's or good nation's reward to 
the tricked 7 Never. 

Thus we have, in a short way, explained, in our estimation, 
those all engrossing texts so much resorted to by Universalists, 
by the use of our key text, furnished by St. Paul, respecting 
how to understand the promise made to Abraham, which was 
to all people, on the condition of faith, and not otherwise. This 
is not to be considered as contradicted by any of the prophets, 
since the world began, however it may thwart the notion of 
Universalists about an unconditional entrance of all mankind, 
both good and bad finally into heaven. 

Mr. Ballou, Balfour, and all Universalists, make themselves 
much sport in trying to show that the orthodox sects by fair 
consequence, make out the devil to be rather more powerful 
than God is, on account of his having far more subjects among 
men than God has. But do Universalists fix things any better ? 
We think not ; for their devil, the lust of men, has full as many 
in his power, if not a great many more ; which God should pre- 
vent, unless their lust-devil is supposed by them to be somewhat 
stronger than God. Universalists allow, nay they contend, that 
all mankind, are always more or less wicked till death, on 
their view of wickedness ; consequently their lust-devil is cer- 
tainly much stronger than God. Thus we see, this ridicule of 
theirs, in charging the orthodox with having a devil who is 
stronger than God, is turned upon themselves. But neither of 
these, the fallen angel of the orthodox faith, or the lust-devil of 
the Universalist faith, are strong at all ; only as human beings 
allow them by temptation to get the mastery, which need not be. 

Mr. Ballou j in his Treatise on Atonement, spends many 
pages of that work to make it appear that if any of the human 
race are, or will be miserable after death, then all will be ; and 
this he makes out on the ground of sympathy, supposing that 
all holy beings must sympathize, and therefore suffer, on the 
account of those who are damned. But this chimera is refuted 
in two ways. The first is, from a consideration that God is the 
best, the holiest, and consequently the most sympathetic being 
there is in existence. Now this God being perfectly acquainted 
with all the cases of sufferings and distress, not only in this 
world, but in the universe, and has from eternity known this, 
and must continue to know, even after all suffering shall come 
to an end, supposing such a thing possible ; is therefore just as 
miserable as he is sympathetic, on the position of Ballou, as 
above alluded to ; and makes God, therefore, the most miserable 
of all beings, which all will at once deny notwithstanding, and 
proves his position absurd. It is refuted secondly, from the 
possibility that God may eternally prevent a thought of the 
sufferings of the damned ever crossing the minds of heaven's in- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 397 

habitants, except the holy angels, in whose presence and that of 
the Lamb, it is said they shall be tormented forever and ever. It 
is refuted on another view, even though all the souls who shall 
be saved from the earth should forever know the sufferings of 
the lost, from a consideration that just as much as they who are 
saved shall partake of the nature of God in the quality of holi- 
ness, will just so far be removed from a liability to suffer by 
sympathy, on account of the sufferings of the damned, even 
though Ballou's doctrine of sympathy suffering were certainly 
true ; for if God does not suffer on that account, with respect to 
the misery now endured in this earth, how is it to be shown that 
he cannot endue those who shall be saved in heaven with as 
great a quantum of his own nature as shall protect them from 
this supposed sampathy suffering ? it certainly can be thus sup- 
posed, and thus believed. We consider the position, therefore, 
answered and refuted ; as God does not suffer from sympathy, 
on account of the sufferings of others, as now experienced in this 
world and in others ; the Sodomites for instance, who in the 
time of St. Jude, were suffering the vengeance of eternal fire 
— not of eternal salvation— nor yet that of the destruction of 
the Jews by the Romans — who did not exist as a nation by 
thirteen hundred years, as soon as did the Sodomites. 

For salvation from all sin, Universalists depend on the opera- 
tion of God, to be exerted in and upon them at the time of the 
general resurrection ; by which they contend that then every 
human being is to be treated alike, all having a glorious resur- 
rection, from not only the dead, but from all sin contracted in 
their life time, so as to fit them for the joys of heaven. But that 
an equal consequence arising out of that great event, is to accrue 
to all of the human race alike, is shown not to be true, from 
Heb. xi. 35. In that chapter is St. Paul's account of the horrid 
suffering of thousands of Christians in his time, of whom he 
mentions even women, who refused to receive deliverance from 
torture on such conditions as no doubt was offered them, con- 
trary to their consciences ; submitting to death for Christ's sake, 
expecting thereby to have a better resurrection. This, how- 
ever, cannot be true, if the rusurrection is to operate on all alike. 
What resurrection did those martyrs suppose could not be a 
good one, on which account they desired a better ? This is 
answered in many places of the Scriptures, where it is said that 
the wicked dead are to rise or come forth to a resurrection of 
damnation, and of shame and eternal contempt, as the original 
every where reads. This only hope of all Universalists, there- 
fore, is in this Scripture annihilated beyond all doubt, as a good 
and a bad resurrection are here spoken of. 

In order to give God a good chance to make all mankind holy 
in an arbitrary and coercive manner, Universalists suppose the 
soul dies when the body does, or sleeps, to say the least of it, till 



398 



HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 



the resurrection ; this is their reason for not believing in the 
soul's immortality; but this is but a fond chimera, in order to 
save all who die in their sins, notwithstanding Christ has said 
that if a man dies in his sins that he cannot come where he is, 
the place which he has promised to all his saints who shall die 
in the Lord. 

It is said by the Saviour, respecting Judas his betrayer, that 
it had been better for that man had he never been born. Mark> 
xiv. 21. But if universal salvation in heaven is certainly to be 
the lot of all men, this Scripture cannot be true ; as no matter 
how great a man's suffering may be in this life, if he goes to 
heaven at last ; it cannot be said of him in any way it can be 
viewed, that it would been better if he had not been born. 
Here then the doctrine of future sufferings is also taught, which 
no Unversalist can possibly avoid or subvert, and give the text 
its full force and meaning. Even though it could be said of 
Judas, that in addition to any sufferings he may have endured 
during his natural life and at his death, he should suffer in hell 
myriads of ages, and then be released, and enter into a ceaseless 
state of happiness, it could not be said with truth, that it would 
be better if he had not been born. There is no way to make 
this out but on the idea of eternal punishment. By Universal- 
ist writers, however, it has been attempted to be shown that the 
Saviour's words, "good were it for that man (Judas) if he had 
never been born," than to have betrayed the son of man — meant 
after all, nothing more than a mere allusion to the sufferings of 
Judas, from the time he went out and told the Sanhedrin that 
he had betrayed the innocent blood, till the time he went and 
hung: himself, including his death ; and that the words, "good 
had it been," &c. were but a common mode of expression, then 
in use among the Jews, when they wished to speak of any one 
whose crimes had rendered them obnoxious to the laws of so- 
ciety. They contend that the Saviour used these words only in 
their common acceptation, as in use among the Jews. But if 
so, then it follows that the same might have been said by him in 
relation to all the Christians of that day, for they were counted 
as criminals, and went to the death for their opinions ; good 
then, it might have been said, had they never been born, as 
Judas' condition was no worse than that of the martyrs, who 
were put to death in the most awful manner, except his soul 
was damned. But we are not at liberty to suppose the Saviour 
would bandy words, or common place speeches, with but little 
and uncertain meaning, even allowing the Jews did often use it 
in such a manner ; for all the words of Jesus Christ are the 
words of the eternal God, incarnate, who spoke as never man 
spake. 

According to Universalists, Judas Iscariot, in a few hours after 
his crime, went directly to heaven, or to a peaceful grave, soul 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 399 

and body, to await with all saints the sound of the last trump, 
when he with them, and all the good and the bad togeth- 
er, are to ascend to heaven ; while the disciples, who did 
not betray Christ, remained on the earth, some a longer and 
some a shorter time, suffering all manner of abuses, and lastly 
death, in the most shameful manner ; and gained nothing there- 
by, more than Judas did, who saved himself the trouble of a 
longer state of suffering by his more sudden death. 

Are we to believe, in order to make out that there is no hell 
after death, as do Universalists, that Christ had no other allusion 
than to the few hours of affliction Judas endured, after he had 
betrayed his master, in those awful words, " good had it been for 
that man had he never been born ?" We are not — except we 
wish to charge the Saviour with a falsehood ; as except the soul 
of Judas went to a ceaseless hell in eternity, the words he there 
uttered are not strictly true. Christ came not into the world to 
use uncertain language, or common place phrases, by which to 
communicate his doctrines — but to speak the truth — to be a re- 
prover — a corrector of errors — a purifyer of opinions and doc- 
trines — to guide men in all coming ages till the end, into all 
truth ; it is derogatory to his God-like character to think other- 
wise. Had poor wretched Judas have known the doctrine of 
Universalists, as to the final happiness and holiness of all men, 
how it would have buoyed his soul up with hope in that dreadful 
hour, and would have made him so happy as that he might al- 
most have been persuaded to kill himself, with joy and triumph, 
i nstead of horror. 

Whether there is a state of suffering or not after death, there 
would seem to be no doubt, from the reading of the 73d Psalm ; 
and though we have so abundantly proved that there is in the 
course of this work, yet we will add the following : David, it 
appears, had nigh well given up his religion, and concluded that 
as the wicked were so prospered in this life, that he had suffered 
for naught in the cause of his God and religion ; he even went 
so far as to say that he had cleansed his heart and washed his 
hands in innocency in vain ; but that when he went into the 
sanctuary God had shown him that this was not true ; for he 
there discovered that the end of the wicked was to be damna- 
tion in hell after death, as we understand him ; then he made 
his confession, and acknowledged that he had been exceeding 
foolish. See what he says of them in that Psalm : "There are 
no bonds (or fears) in their death, their strength (of mind at that 
hour, is firm," (being ignorant.) During their lifetime, he says 
of them that they were not in trouble as other men, neither are 
they plagued as other men. Their eyes stand out with fatness, 
they have more than heart can wish. And they say, How doth 
God know? is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, 
these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world." But what is 



400 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

the closing scene respecting them? "Surely thou didst set 
them in slippery places : thou castedest them down into destruc- 
tion. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment ? 
they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one 
awakeneth, so O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise 
their image." Now, when can all this take place respecting 
these characters ? Certainly not in this life ; because the text 
describes them as temporally happy all their lives, even to death, 
and even then they have no fears. We defy, therefore, all the 
ingenuity of all the Universalists of Christendom, to save these 
characters from a state of suffering after death, as here attested 
to by David ; and if they cannot, then the hell which the orthodox 
sects believe exists, is made out. Who are the characters in this 
life, whose image God despises 7 None is our answer ; for it is 
written, " his tender mercies are over all his works" (in this 
life.) But there is coming a time when this will not be true — a 
time when God will despise the image of the wicked, and will 
utterly destroy them with terrors. 

If Universalism is true, then the Apostles preached it ; but if 
they preached the glad tidings of no hell, no day of judgment, 
and no devil, why did the Pagans persecute them ? Nay, it was 
because they preached the exact contrary in all the above res 
pects. Can an instance be found, where the wicked have ever 
put to death a Universalist, for telling them that these things do 
not exist ? It cannot. Their doctrine agrees so well with the 
carnal mind, that persecution cannot be produced from that quar- 
ter. Do not the wicked, if they believe it, rejoice in Universalism ? 
as it offers them the prospect of happiness after death, on which 
account they care nothing about this life 1 and no reason why 
they should, for if heaven is sure to all, why trouble themselves 
with self denial and the spirituality of orthodox Christianity ? 

Universalists deny the doctrine of the forgiveness of sin, 
when men repent and reform, holding that the conscience suf- 
fers, till divine justice is satisfied ; on which account pardon is 
made impossible. But the Scriptures are against this dogma of 
theirs, which to prove we quote as follows : Col. iii. 13, " For- 
bearing one another, and forgiving one another ; if any man 
have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also 
do ye." In the Lord's prayer, the doctrine of forgiveness is as 
prominent a doctrine as any inculcated in it ; which says, " for- 
give us our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against 
us." As far back in time as the era of David, this doctrine was 
believed, even in the Jewish church ; see the 32d Psalm, verse 
5 : " I acknowledge my sin unto thee, (O God,) and mine ini- 
quity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions 
unto the Lord : and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." In 
the same Psalm, at the 1st verse, the same doctrine is expressed : 
" Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven." Also in the 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 401 

51st Psalm, it is written by David : " Have mercy upon me O 
God ! according to thy loving kindness, according unto the 
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." 
Also, in Nehemiah, ix. 17, it is said : " But thou art a God ready 
to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great 
kindness." Isaiah, lv. 7, teaches the same belief, where it is 
written : " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
man his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, and he 
will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abun- 
dantly PARDON." 

That remission of sins might be made possible to man on 
repentance, was the very object of the promise of the seed of the 
woman, who was to come. This we prove from Luke, xxiv. 
45, 46, 47: "Then opened he their understanding, that they 
might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is 
written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the 
dead the third day : and that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem." In this last quotation it is shown, that both the doc- 
trine of the remission of sins, and that of repentance, are taught ; 
and that by the eternal God himself, in the person of Jesus 
Christ, after his resurrection from the dead ; and yet both these 
doctrines, so deeply interesting the character of the Son of God, 
and the happiness of all true penitents, is denied by Universal- 
ists, for the reason above given. As it respects repentance, they 
consider this doctrine as held by the orthodox and as taught in 
the Scriptures, as highly licentious ; for say they, it allows a 
man to be as wicked as he will all his life long, providing he 
repents but a moment before his death, which saves him. But 
this is a false view of the subject ; for as life is so uncertain, it is 
always recommended to all men, by all orthodox ministers of 
religion, to repent now ; and besides this, they always teach the 
immense importance of spending the whole life in piety and re- 
ligion ; because they believe this circumstance will greatly 
enhance their glorification in heaven, as a reward which the 
righteous judge will bestow according to character, at the gen- 
eral resurrection. With this view, are the doctrines of repent- 
ance and pardon licentious ? We think not ; while on the con- 
trary opinion, as held by Universalists, namely, that repentance 
and remission are not possible, we show that such an opin- 
ion is directly licentious, as follows : Will any man be religious, 
or lead a virtuous life, except it be for his temporal interest, 
when he believes that his own conscious sufferings when he 
sins will expiate the guilt ? and when he believes that if he hap- 
pens to die suddenly, or by accident, a vile and wicked person, 
that the general resurrection will bring him up soul and body, 
fitted for heaven ? We think not ; and indeed we aver that he 
will not ; as such a conclusion is as natural as is effect from 



402 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

cause. The charge of licentiousness lies at the door of Univer- 
salists, therefore, so far as we are able to understand the subject. 
We could multiply Scripture quotation to a great length, in sup- 
port of the truth of the doctrines of the remission of sins, and of 
repentance, but think the above sufficient. But some Univer- 
salists, being aware how extremely preposterous it is to deny 
these wholesome and strictly Bible doctrines, confound repent- 
ance, remission, and conscience suffering, all together, believing 
it consistent to be pardoned and punished besides ; which belief 
equally nullifies both ideas ; for if a man is punished according 
to the demands of divine justice, how is he pardoned ? or if he 
is pardoned how is he punished ? We answer, that on this 
view, punishment and pardon are both destroyed. 

This doctrine, that of no repentance, and no remission of 
sins, as bestowed by the Supreme Being for the sake of his Son, 
is radically bad in its influence on the morals and dispositions of 
men. But in what way, says one? As follows, we reply : if 
God the best of beings, will not pardon offences on repentance, 
how is it that men who are infinitely less good than God is, can 
pardon each other ? Most certainly if God will not pardon why 
should men do so ? As far as possible, men should imitate in 
their disposition the excellencies of their Creator ; and therefore 
if God will not pardon, but will exact punishment in this life to 
the full amount, why should not men do so when they trespass 
against each other ? Such an influence on society would be 
very horrible ; and yet it is the direct influence of the no par- 
don system of Universalists. But the Scriptures are against it, 
as in all the above quotations on these subjects, and especially 
where it is writen, that except men forgive one another their 
trespasses, neither will God forgive them. Christ said to the 
man sick of the palsy, " Son be of good cheer, thy sins be for- 
given thee." Matth. ix. 2. 

But as a climax of inconsistency and perversion of Scripture, 
as is common to Universalists, we notice Mr. Ballou's free and 
fearless use he has made of the 4th verse of the 21st of Rev., 
which reads, " And God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes ; and there shall be no more (temporal) death, neither sor- 
row nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the 
former things are passed away." From this text Mr. Ballou is 
sure that an end to all suffering is then to be made — when he 
could but have known that the whole was spoken of the perse- 
vering saints, of whom it is said in another place — Rev. ii. 10 : 
"Be thou faithful (this was on condition,) until death, and I 
will give thee a crown of life." We say he (Ballou,) could have 
but known, that the above 4th verse of the 21st of Rev. was 
spoken of the righteous at the end of time ; because the chapter 
preceding, namely, the 20th of Rev., from the 11th to the 15th 
verses inclusive, describes the damnation of the finally impeni- 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 403 

tent at the end of time, as follows : "And I saw a great white 
throne, and him (Christ) that sat upon it ; from whose face the 
earth and the heaven (its atmosphere) fled away, (into hell,) and 
there was found no more place (in the universe) for them. And 
I saw the dead, both small and great, stand before God, (Christ,) 
and the books (the Old and New Testaments,) were opened ; 
and another book was opened, which is the book of life, (in 
which is written in heaven the names of such as have been 
faithful until death,) and the dead were judged out of those 
things which were written in the books, according to their 
works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death 
(the grave.) and hell, (or hades,) delivered up the dead which 
were in them, and they were judged every man according to his 
works, (to consist in degrees suited in severity to their charac- 
ters, but all eternal, as God's judgments are eternal.) And death 
and hell (the globe and hades, which is in its centre,) were cast 
into the lake of fire : this is the second death. And whosoever 
was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake 
of fire," or the second death. But as it respected the righteous, 
who had been faithful until death, a crown of life was given to 
every one of them, and from whose eyes accordingly all tears 
were wiped away. How, therefore, Mr. Ballou can infer, that 
in the above acount St. John has made no difference between 
the finally good and finally bad, at the day of judgment, is 
strange. Now, could we but believe as Universalists do, we 
should immediately discover that all those of whom the Revela- 
tor speaks, when he says that " whosoever was not found writ- 
ten in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire," — that this 
lake of fire is nothing after all but the fire of God's love— the 
fire of the Holy Ghost — or the fire of the destruction of the Jews 
by the Romans — the fire of salvation from alll sin — then we 
might say with Mr. Ballou, that sure enough, there should be 
no more sorrow, nor crying, nor sighing, nor any more pain, 
except what the captive Jews might cry and feel. But this is 
not so ; as in the operation of the real fire of salvation, there is 
no mention made of brimstone, as is in the case of the fire of 
the hell of the damned — which is a very remarkable distinction, 
which, if it is foolish and absurd, the matter lies between God 
and those who disbelieve it. There was no brimstone used at 
the siege of Jerusalem, was there ? The result, therefore, is, 
that no more sorrow and crying is to be feared or felt by the 
finally righteous, after the day of final account ; while to the 
other there is to be no end of sorrows. 



404 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 



Shapes of (Spirits, both Good and Bad. 

As to the forms or shapes of evil spirits, in their natural or 
first condition, immediately after their fall, or at the present time, 
there is no reason to doubt but they retain the same which they 
had before their fall — except the lineaments of innocency, hap- 
piness, and glory of their first condition has departed. But what 
was their first shape or fashion of existence 1 This can be answered 
in no way but by ascertaining what the shape of those angels was 
who never fell from their first condition in which they were crea- 
ted. And as to the shape of such angels, we have no clue by 
which to ascertain their forms, except those instances in which 
they have appeared to men ; and those have always been in the 
human form, clothed with wings, or with white robes. To prove 
this, we bring forward the Bible accounts of such appearances. 
And in doing this, we shall avoid all those cases in which there 
is a doubt whether the being called an angel was a man or a 
spirit ; and those other cases, where angels are spoken of, of 
whom there is no doubt of their being spirits, but their forms 
are not specified. But such as are specified, are as follows : 
Judges, xiii. read the whole chapter, and it will appear that the 
angel was in the form of a man, because the wife of Manoah, 
and the mother of Samson, speaks of him to her husband as 
being a man, not knowing at first to the contrary. But the 
sequel, which is found at the 20th verse, shows him to have been 
a spirit ; for when the flame of the sacrifice, which Manoah of- 
fered to the Lord on a rock, the angel ascended in the flame up 
toward heaven ; which a mere man could not have done. At 
the 6th verse of this chapter, the wife of Manoah said to her 
husband, in describing the looks of the man who had been at 
their house in " his absence, that his countenance (or face) was 
like an angel of God, very terrible." 

Daniel, viii. 21, " Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even 
the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision, at the begin- 
ning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of 
the evening oblation," and informed him of things to come in 
after times, respecting the Messiah. The proof that this man 
called Gabriel, was a spirit, is that he flew, or was caused, as 
the text reads, "to fly swiftly," and to reveal to Daniel things in 
futurity. Can a man fly ? We know they cannot ; this then 
was a supernatural angel, and his form was that of a man, or 
Daniel would not have called him a man, if he had not been in 
that form. 

This same angel, who appeared to Daniel, about five hundred 
years afterwards appeared to Zacharias, at a time when he was 
within the holy of holies in the temple, offering the annual 
oblation, according to the law of Moses, and said to him, " I am 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES'. 405 

Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak 
unto thee." The proof that this Gabriel was a spirit in the form 
of a man, is that no man was allowed to enter the holy of holies, 
except the High Priest, and him but once a year. And further, 
in proof that he was a spirit, when Zacharias came out of the 
holy of holies, or from behind the veil of the temp le, he was dumb 
and could not speak, by which they perceived that he had seen 
a vision. Luke, i. 19, 22. It was this same angel who an- 
nounced to Mary, the mother of our Lord's human nature, that 
the Messiah should be born of her ; as that same angel who 
appeared to her is called Gabriel. Luke, i. 26 to 33 inclusive. 
It was in the form of a man, that the angel appeared, who came 
and rolled, away the great stone wmich had been placed at the 
door of the tomb, where the Saviour's body was laid after his 
crucifixion; see Matth. xxviii. 2, 3, "And behold there was a 
great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from 
heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door 
and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and 
his raiment white as snow ; and for fear of him the keepers (the 
Roman guard,) did shake, and became as dead men." The 
proof that this same angel w^as in the form of a man, is found 
in Mark, xvi. 5, G : " And entering into the sepulchre they, (the 
women, Mary and others.) saw a young man sitting on the 
right side, clothed in a long white garment ; and they were 
affrighted. And he saith unto them, be not affrighted. Ye seek 
Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified : he is risen ; he is not 
here : behold the place w T here they laid him." The proof that 
this angel was also a spirit, is that he, " the angel of the Lord 
descended from heaven." The same is shown also, from St. 
Luke, xxiv. 4 : "And it came to pass, as they (the women, Mary 
and others,) were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men 
stood by them in shining garments ; (such no doubt as adorned 
the Saviour, when he was transfigured on the mount, when 
his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no 
fuller on earth can white them,) and as they (the women,) were 
afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they (the an- 
gels,) said unto them, He is not here, but is risen." 

The account given of the angels who appeared to the women, 
who went to the tomb of the Saviour, by Matthew, Mark, and 
Luke, is very similar to another account, found in Daniel, x. 5, 
so far as relates to the form and appearance of angels, which 
reads as follows : " Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and 
behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded 
with fine gold of Uphaz : his body was like the beryl, (a bluish 
green pelucid hue.) and his face as the appearance of lightning, 
and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in 
color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice 

30 



406 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

of a multitude." How wonderful a being was this ; yet his 
shape was that of man: how ennobled and glorious the human 
form, if even the heavenly hosts have this form, and worthy 
therefore being redeemed, to be raised from the dead, and to 
live forever in heaven, when it shall be made like unto Christ's 
glorious body. And how does that glorious body look ? see 
Rev. i. from 13 to 15 inclusive : " And in the midst of the seven 
candlesticks (John saw) one like unto the son of man, clothed 
with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps (the 
bosom,) with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were 
white like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes as a flame 
of fire ; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a 
furnace ; and his voice as the sound of many waters," in com- 
motion. This was the Son of God, Rev. ii. 18, and was also 
the Alpha and Omega, Rev. i. 11. 

As to the form of departed human spirits, we believe they 
retain the same shape as when connected with their bodies, and 
that that shape is the same as is the body. Our proof of this, is 
the appearance of Moses and Elijah, on mount Tabor, when the 
Saviour was transfigured, in the presence of three of his disciples, 
who immediately knew Moses and Elijah, because they ap- 
peared in their original shape, as when in this life, or the disci- 
ples could never have distinguished them as being of the human 
kind, were it not for this reason. And if we ascertain that even 
one departed spirit is of the human form, we gain the principle, 
which establishes that all are the same. Many instances of the 
appearance of human spirits might here be given, if history and 
credible accounts might be allowed as evidence ; but we desist, 
as we wish to build all our remarks, deductions, and inferences, 
in this work, on the statements of Scripture, and that alone. But 
all such appearances have ever been reported to have been in 
the human form, who have been seen by mortals. 

By the foregoing, we think we have clearly established, that 
the form of angels is that of the human form; and therefore, 
think we have also ascertained, such to be the form of Satan 
and his angels ; though shorn of their first splendor by the ruin 
of their apostacy, and the damnation of their being. So that 
were they permitted to appear in their true form, all that distin- 
guishes the happy angels of heaven, would appear in these lost 
spirits, in an inverse degree ; all that is glorious in one, would 
be all that is horrible in the other ; other language we have not, 
by which to describe beings so lost, so ruined, so thunder 
scarred, and burnt by the blast of the just vengeance of the 
Eternal. But by what means evil spirits, as stated in Scripture, 
got possession of human souls and bodies, is not revealed ; the 
facts are stated, but the manner is conjecture. We know, that 
in the common walks of life, the associations of man with man, 
that one person's spirit influences another ; and so powerfully, 



ANGELS OP THE SCRIPTURES. 407 

that not unfrequently the ruin of a fellow associate is secured ; 
while a contrary influence is also often exerted by the good, and 
result in consequences as felicitous as the other is disastrous. 
The whole intercourse of men is carried on by spiritual influ- 
ence ; which is evident when two persons converse, or when 
ideas are exchanged, by voice, by signs, or by writing ; all is the 
work of mind, and mind is spirit. The body has nothing to 
do in this matter, and knows no more about the operations of 
the mind, no, not even the brain, than the chariot which con- 
veys us when we ride for our pleasure, or the ship which bears 
its tonnage in gold, from one port to another. The body fur- 
nished with a tongue, with lips and the organs of speech, is that 
mode, by the means of which, we commonly communicate ideas, 
and is adapted to this state of existence. But this circumstance 
cannot preclude the idea that there exists no other modes by 
which spirits, without corporeal bodies, may operate upon, or 
influence other spirits than themselves, either for good or evil. 
If it does, then all the spiritual beings of another state, are with- 
out the means of association, a condition far inferior to us. But 
this is not so, as can easily be shown, from the evidence there is 
of the happy state of the society of the blessed, in communion 
with God, and association with each other. If then we per- 
ceive, that in the economy of the Creator toward rational exis- 
tences, society itself is based upon the power of spiritual influ- 
ence, whether with a body or without one, then a possibility 
presents itself of such spirits as have no corporeal bodies, influ- 
encing such as have. 

But how a thought can be suggested to the mind of man, 
without the means of sound or signs, by a spirit, is undefina- 
ble by human powers ; yet such is the fact, as can be shown 
from God's own word, who certainly knows what is the truth 
on this subject ; see Acts, v. 3, " But Peter said, Ananias why 
hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost." And 
another case, similar to that of Ananias, is that of Judas, in his 
treachery to his Lord ; see Luke, xxii. 3, 4, " Then Satan en- 
tered into Judas, and he went his way and communed with the 
chief priests and captains, how he might betray him (the Sa- 
viour) unto the-m." Is it not clear, therefore, that Satan sug- 
gested this thought to the mind of Judas ? and is it not this 
which is meant by the words, " then entered Satan into Judas," 
by influencing his mind in addressing the suggestion to his con- 
stitutional or besetting sin, which was doubtless covetousness, 
but might have been resisted, as there were reasons why he 
should not have acquiesced, of far greater weight than those by 
which he allowed himself to be led and overcome ? 

Good spirits likewise have power to suggest thoughts to the 
minds of men, as can be proven from many places in the Bible ; 
as when angels are said to have appeared to any one in a dream, 



408 HISTORY Or THJS FALLEN 

or in a vision, in open conversation or by impressions, as in the 
case of St. Paul, while tossing about in the Adriatic sea, exposed 
every moment to be plunged to the bottom ; he says, " there 
stood by me this night the angel of God. . . .saying, fear not 
Paul, thou must be brought before Csesar ; and lo, God hath 
given thee all them that sail with thee f how good a thing it is 
sometimes, for the wicked to be in company with a good man. 
It does not appear that Paul saw the angel : yet he knew that 
one had stood by him that night, while he no doubt was praying 
for his own life, on account of the infant cause of Christianity } 
but also for the lives of the ship's company .; and knew, from a 
powerful and sudden impression, that his prayer should be an- 
swered. Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus the 
Saviour, was warned in a dream to flee into Egypt, to save the 
life of the child. St, Peter also, and the Centurion, were both 
the subjects of visions ; in which one of them, namely, Corne- 
lius, was warned of God by a holy angel, to send for Peter. 
This angel he saw evidently about the ninth hour of the day, 
of whom he enquired what he should do. Acts, x. 3, 4. 

It is not contrary to the laws of eternity, or of invisible beings, 
to commune or to converse with mortals ; for even God him- 
self, is said frequently to have done this, as in the case of Moses, 
who talked face to face with him, though invisible. Also, he 
conversed with Solomon twice ; but these cases was in a dream, 
in which it is said that God appeared to Solomon — see 2d 
Chron. vii. 12 — and related to that monarch that he had heard 
his prayer ; and that he would answer it, and fulfill all that he 
had promised to David his father, if he, Solomon, and the Jews 
would keep his law. 

Agreeable to this rule of spiritual impressions, we do not doubt 
that the whole race of man, including every individual who has 
the use of right reason, are from time to time, more or less the 
subjects of supernatural impressions, as carried on by both good 
and bad spirits, as well as by the Most High himself; and that 
those spiritual impressions are intended for the good and ill of 
mortals; by which human spirits now on probation may be 
profited or damaged as they may choose, to make use of such 
impressions. 

It is said in the New Testament — see Acts, vii. 53 — by St. 
Stephen, when about to be stoned to death, that the Jews had 
even received the law by the disposition of angels, but that they 
had not kept it. The whole Scriptures are but one continued 
proof of the assiduity and care of good spirits in another world ; 
as also the malevolence and assiduity of evil spirits to injure 
mankind. In proof of this last idea, we bring the case of Ahab, 
one of the kings of Israel — see 1st Kings, xxii. from the 19th to 
the 23d verse inclusive — where the anxiety of an evil spirit, or 
one of the fallen angels, is manifested, to go and influence Ahat> 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 409 

to go to the field of battle that he might there be slain ; see the 
20th and 21st verses of this chapter, which are exceedingly in- 
teresting, as follows : " And the Lord said, who shall persuade 
Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead 1 And one 
said on this, and another said on that manner. And there 
came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and sad, / 
vrill persuade him ;" which he did, and was the cause of Ahab's 
death ; for he was persuaded by this lying spirit in the mouths 
of Ahab's false prophets, to go to the battle, who said he should 
return in safety ; but this was false, as he died on the day of bat- 
tle, from the wound of an arrow, shot at a venture, which entered 
his body between the joints of his coat of mail. Does not this 
fact prove also, beyond a "doubt, the real existence of evil angels ; 
for we see he became a lying spirit in the mouths of the false 
prophets, to the ruin of Ahab — a work which a good angel could 
not engage in. 

Philip, also, was directed by the angel of the Lord to go and 
baptize the Ethiopian. Acts, viii. 26. Peter was released from 
prison by the ministration of an angel. Acts, v. 19. Many 
other instances of spiritual impression, by dream, by vision, and 
open sight, might be brought from the Scriptures, as evidence 
of our position, but let these suffice. 

If then we have succeeded in showing that spirits can and do 
influence spirit, both good and bad — natural and supernatural, 
we are now prepared, in a measure, to show hoio Satan ^and 
evil sprits, may have had, in ancient times, and even now, can 
have the possession of the souls and bodies of such as give them- 
selves into his power — even in this life. In order to investigate 
this mysterious subject, we shall bring to our aid, the all pow- 
erful principle of faith — a fact of the utmost importance to 
Christian theology, -as well as to all other systems, whether reli- 
gious or political — for it is said as a starting point, " that he that 
cometh to God must believe that he is ;" by which immense 
and unending consequences, to the human soul, as well as body, 
are effected. And by a parity of reasoning, may it not be said 
also of such as do believe in the being of /Satan, that they may, 
if they will, of a ^set and intense purpose, come as nigh to him, 
and receive of his nature, in evil influence, equally as much as 
the same set and intense purpose, would procure to the soul 
and body of a man of an opposite and good influence in drawing 
nigh to God ? If a man can be as holy as is possible, he also 
can be as wicked as is possible ; and who can mark the boun- 
daries of either of those principles, even in this life ? It cannot 
be ascertained. 

The power of faith and prayer, have been in all ages, the 
most effective means in conforming and influencing the soul to 
holy affections, and religious happiness : so much so, that the 
mind may in deed, and in truth, commune with God face to 



410 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

face, though to the mortal, God is invisible, yet that circum- 
stance makes no difference, because faith to the soul is as sight 
to the body, and equally convincing and satisfactory. Can this 
be otherwise? seeing that Enoch was translated by faith from 
earth to heaven, as stated Heb. xi. 5. Was it not by this princi- 
ple, that Elisha the prophet, drew around him, while at Dotham, 
— being hemmed in by the Assyrian army — an exceeding great 
host of angels, so that he said to his frightened servant, Gehiza, 
" they that be with us, are more than they that be with them ?" 
2d Kings, vi. 16. By this principle, thousands and millions 
have died with trarisports, while characters of an opposite cast, 
have departed with curses and blasphemies burning on their 
tongues, or in stupid and sullen insensibility of mind, of which 
infidels make their boast. Now, is not this perfectly reason- 
able, and in accordance with the Scriptures ? for it is written, 
"dnw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." James, iv. 
8 — but how nigh is not stated. And by a parity of reasoning, 
may it not be said, he that draws nigh to the devil, in ardor of 
desire to become exceedingly wicked, that the devil will draw 
nigh to him ? 

It is said by James, iv. 7 : " Resist the devil, and he will flee 
from you ;" and of course, if he is not resisted, he will not fly 
from us, but come nigher and nigher, as our conduct and evil 
affections may invite ; even till a complete possession takes 
place, as can be proved, both from Scripture and otherwise. 

But as to certain arts, by which evil spirits can be evoked, 
there is no doubt, yet little ,is known of such things in Christian 
countries. But among nations not blessed with the salvation of 
Christianity, they are known, or ancient history, with the Bible 
itself, is not to be relied on. To this very point, see Acts, xix. 19, 
" And many of them that used curious arts, brought their books 
together, and burned them," — it is clear that at the time of the 
Saviour's ministry, the Jews had among them many demoniacs, 
as well as the Gentiles, and wherever the Gospel was carried, 
multitudes of evil spirits were dispossessed of their prey, by its 
power, and that on that very circumstance the name of Jesus 
Christ acquired its celebrity, as being of heavenly origin — " un- 
clean spirits, crying with loud voices, came out of many," in 
subjection to that name. Acts, viii. 7. 

Were we to travel in those countries, at the present time, 
where the devil is worshipped systematically, as in some parts of 
Persia, about the ancient site of Ninevah, in Ceylon, Burmah, 
Bagdad, and many parts of the East Indies, and other heathen 
countries, and were we particularly acquainted with circum- 
stances and things relative to the effects, we should find equally 
as many, even now, who are possessed with devils, or evil spirits, 
as in the time of the Saviour ; as there is no good reason why 
not. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 411 

As to the manner by which evil spirits, in ancient, or modern 
times, got the possession of human beings, is a matter of pure 
conjecture, as before remarked, and therefore, we proceed on that 
ground to ascertain the manner of such possessions. It is a fact 
we believe, that the human constitution of mind is more inclined 
to sad and sorrowful sensations than to joyful ones. This we 
believe, is the universal experience ; and if a happy sensation 
crosses the mind, it is the offspring of hope, or of labored excite- 
ment, while the general tenor of the feelings of the soul are tinc- 
tured with gloom, and tending to ferocity. This is everwhere 
known to be the case, among savage nations, and would be our 
condition, were it not for the labors of social, and Christian edu- 
cation, which goes to counteract that natural state of mind ; yet 
even under this influence, the tenor of the mind is to sadness, 
the genuine offspring of the fall. Concerning this, it is said in 
Scripture, 2d Cor. vii. 10, that the " sorroio of this world work- 
eth death ;" and who can define in how many different ways ? 
as when it is deep and poignant, distraction and self murder are 
its consequences, not unfrequently, in all ages of the world. 
But if the sorrows of this world do not always lead to such ends, 
yet persons of a more than ordinary desponding cast of consti- 
tution, by giving way to fits of melancholly, to rage and anger, 
unrestrained, and to murmuring against God's providence, being 
dissatisfied with all the circumstances of life, fancying that every 
one is against them, and that God is their enemy, — it seldom 
fails but such persons become dangerous characters in society. 
Their manners are uninviting and gloomy, seeming to be dis- 
tressed when any one is prospered, and to rejoice and show signs 
of pleasure, when any one is ruined' in character or property. 
They seek to be alone, and to wander in the dark, and in soli- 
tudes, avoiding human society as much as their necessities will 
admit of, invariably fixing the impression, when met with, that 
they are possessed with a devil, or some extraordinary affection. 
If the passions of hatred and revenge in any one, are secretly 
indulged, meditating mischief continually, toward the cause of 
their dislike, deeply imbuing the love of unbounded injury, so 
as at times to gnash the teeth in secret ; and if this state of mind 
it suffered to continue, it will increase in malignity, till reason is 
dethroned, or not allowed to operate, when the person is a m a- 
niac ; and it may be said that Satan has the possession- Their 
looks denote it, the eye beaming with a fearful glare, is never 
irradiated with a smile, the hair is suffered to grow till long and 
tangled, the clothes become neglected and filthy — indifference of 
food takes place, till nearly starved, or else cramming at times 
beyond all human appetite — universal ruin and death is the 
climax. 

There are many courses which produce distraction ; as exces- 
sive jealousy, excessive and inordinate love, excessive oppres- 



412 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

sion, and religious despair and fanaticism, all of which are of the 
devil, and avenues by which devils may enter into the posses- 
sion of the mind, and the passions of the human race, and have 
so done in thousands of instances, as we believe. Hopeless 
revenge for irreparable injuries, as in cases of inconstancy be- 
tween lovers, husbands and wives, have produced shocking cases 
of Satanic possession, so judged to be from the malignancy 
shown in their behaviour. Some have gone distracted in a few 
hours, from a fit of anger. A certain person known to the wri- 
ter, who had been religiously affected by the preaching of a 
certain order of Christians, which her husband opposed, to that 
degree, by way of hectoring and tormenting her, till at a certain 
time she gave way to a burst of passion, instead of prayer, when 
she threw a brickbat at her husband, with all the violence of 
intended murder, and that moment lost her reason, and never 
recovered it again. 

Another instance, though of a different cast, is known to the 
writer, of a woman, whose natural temper was of the fractious 
and irrascible description, in which she had through life in- 
dulged in a very extraordinary manner, rendering herself ex- 
tremely disagreeable to her family and all about her. At a cer- 
tain time, a daughter of hers, a young lady of mature age, became 
religiously concerned, and continued thus about two weeks, 
when she experienced comfort, through faith in the Saviour of 
men. At which time, her mother, who had during the concern 
of the daughter made some opposition, became also concerned 
on the same account, especially when she witnessed the happi- 
ness of her child, and the praise she gave to a God of love. She 
immediately took to her bed, and wept on account of her condi- 
tion, as was supposed, for about twenty-four hours ; when she 
burst out into a rage of profane and blasphemous language, too 
horrible for mortal ear, and went immediately distracted. She 
continued nine years in that condition, chained most of the time ; 
and died without any change for the better, a spectacle of horror 
and dismay. She was undoubtedly possessed of a devil, as all 
who beheld her were of that opinion; which condition was 
brought about, first, from so long indulgence in angry disposi- 
tion ; and second, because she resisted conviction for sin ; and 
probably cursed the cause in her heart, and became a maniac. 

There are others, who from one degree of spirilual wicked- 
ness to another, progress till a self-willed sufficiency takes place 
in the mind ; so much so as that they fancy themselves some 
important supernatural character, as the Messiah, a prophet, or 
some extraordinary messenger of providence, and claim atten- 
tion and honor accordingly. 

This sort, by way of sanctity and self importance, allow their 
hair and beards to grow its fall length, putting on distracted airs, 
affecting to converse with spirits, and invisible beings ; and who 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 413 

can say they do not ? by which they acquire the dread of all 
men, however fortified by philosophy, or even religion itself. 
By pursuing this course, the restraining influence of God's good 
spirit leaves them to the full operation of all evil, when Satan 
takes possession. Now the man is prepared for wickedness by 
rule ; no human face can daunt him, no threatened punishment 
is dreaded, he becomes incased in his own fury and self-will, so 
that a terror seems to surround him, a kind of unearthly influ- 
ence is found creeping over us if he approaches. If their opin- 
ions and assumptions are treated with contempt by any one, 
malice is seen to work its snaky evolutions along their features, 
when thoughts of revenge become the happiness of the mind. 
Many instances of this kind' have arisen from time to time all 
along, since the time of our Lord, of men setting themselves up as 
Messiahs ; even within a few years, there was a wretch of this 
sort in Ohio, who claimed to be Christ, and seduced quite a 
number of the inhabitants to follow him, and to believe in him 
for a time. 

We have said before, that all transactions among men are car- 
ried on by spiritual influence, one man's mind operating on 
another, while all the limbs ana organization of the body, are in 
ignorance of what is passing. In this way one man begets, or 
implants his likeness in the mind of another, that is, the likeness 
of his thoughts or opinions. No w % if the very image of one per- 
son's opinions can be infused, or in any way implanted in anoth- 
er, or in thousands, so as to have an abiding 'influence, who is 
prepared to say that spirits, good or bad, if permitted, cannot do 
as much, or more. As the form of spirits is no interruption to 
their passing through solids as easily as through open space, as 
they are immaterial not tangible, any more than is thought ; 
how easily, therefore, if permitted, could an evil spirit enter the 
heart and brain of a human being, and there abide, giving tone 
and direction to all their actions at times, by influencing the 
mind to operate on the nerves, by which actions, words and 
thoughts should become extravagant and supernatural, or out of 
the common order of human conduct. Evil spirits are beings, 
and therefore are continually somewhere, and that somewhere 
is their location, and if that location is sometimes in the brain of 
a human being, distraction of some sort is sure to be effected. 
It was no doubt in this way the devils, being intangible, and 
having permission, entered into the brains 'of the swine, so as to 
have the power to cause them to run into the sea. But there is, 
no doubt, a vast difference to be made between such demoniacal 
possessions and those who by arts, known to some, evoke and 
command the services of evil spirits ; as in the latter case, the 
person having -and using such an art, is the controller, while in 
the former the evil spirit is the one who rules. 

31 



414 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

We think, therefore, that the manner by which a devil may 
enter into a man, is plainly enough stated and settled in the New 
Testament, to have been by simply entering in, as easily as they 
can go any where else, if allowed ; which, for reasons un- 
searchable, have often been permitted, or Scripture and history 
are both false on this subject. Were it not for the invisible 
providence of God, this same Satan, with his angels would in- 
stantly enter in, derange and destroy, the whole human race ; 
and the cases where evil spirits have taken the possession 
of any one, were doubtless, in most cases, such as had by a 
course of inward wickedness, caused the Holy Spirit to with- 
draw his protecting as well as his gracious influence; so 
that devils being permitted to have the possession, did actually 
enter, and torment such victims of their own folly, as in a mul- 
titude of places in the New Testament are spoken of. 

But to conclude on this subject, we give the belief of that emi- 
nent and holy man, Adam Clarke, on the subject of spirits, and 
of the possibility of acquaintance with them, and of their ability 
to appear to men. See his comment on 1st Samuel, xxviiL 
15, on the subject of the woman of Endor, as follows : 1st. 
"I believe there is a supernatural and spiritual world, in 
which human spirits, both good and bad, live in a state of con- 
sciousness. 2d. I believe there is an invisible world, in which 
various orders of spirits, not human, good and bad, live and act. 
3d. I believe that any of these spirits, may, according to the 
order of God, in the laws of their place of residence, have inter- 
course with this world, and become visible to mortals. 4th. I 
believe there is a possibility, by arts not strictly good, to evoke 
and have intercourse with spirits not human ; and to employ, 
in a certain limited way, their power and influence. 5th. I be- 
lieve that the woman of Endor had no power over the spirit of 
Samuel the prophet ; nor that' any incantation can avail, over 
any departed saint of God, nor indeed over any human spirit 
whatever." 



Attributes of Satan, and Evil Spirits. 

But as to Satan, and his demon coadjutors, what are their 
powers and attributes? are they everywhere present or not, 
which some incline to believe? This is impossible, as there 
can be but one everywhere present being, and that is God. 
How is it then, as some may enquire ; as Satan appears to be 
everywhere present by being a universal tempter to evil ? This 
is probably the secret of it : the heart of man is Satan's repre- 
sentative ; and has, ever since the fall of Adam, been his faithful 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 415 

representative, by way of depravity ; and were that being, with 
all his associate fallen spirits, at a blow of the Almighty hand, 
swept out of being, yet men would continue sinners ; because 
they have naturally bad and corrupt natures, even from infancy, 
tending thitherward. But it is our opinion, that were there no 
Satan nor subordinate spirits of that description, that the world 
would not witness so many violent acts of wickeness as it now. 
does — deeds of horror, as in some cases, which seems to exceed 
the capabilities of man. 

But although Satan, or any of me fallen angels, are not 
omnipresent, yet they are spirits ; and as such, possess the 
power of inconceivable swiftness, so that the circuit of the earth 
can probably be made by them in a few minutes. But notwith- 
standing this, the Scripture settles the point, that Satan moves over 
the earth leisurely and at his will, seeking opportunities of moral 
ruin ; see 1st Peter, v. 8, who says, "Be sober, be vigilant, because 
your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seek- 
ing whom he may devour." And also. Job, ii. 2, where it is 
seen that Satan's answer to the interogation of the Almighty, 
respecting from whence he came, was that " from going to and 
fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." 

But how do we prove that spirits can pass swiftly from one 
place to another ? We prove it from Daniel, ix. 21, who says 
that while he was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, who 
was a spirit or angel, flew swiftly, and touched him about the 
time of the evening oblation. But from whence did he fly ? 
We cannot tell ; but most certainly from some place in immen- 
sity of space ; perhaps from heaven itself, on this errand to pious 
Daniel. That Satan can pass swiftly from one part of space to 
another, is more than intimated by the New Testament, which 
says that Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the region 
in which speed by flight is performed. So that if he will, he 
can visit any quarter or particular part of the earth or the plan- 
ets, as speedily as he may desire, and from thence away, or can 
remain, as the interests of his kingdom may require. 

Who does not know with what amazing velocity a thought 
can travel, and how much it can review in a few moments ? and 
that it has only to think of the most distant regions of the far 
heavens, when lo it is there, and as quickly as far away in some 
other direction, if it will ? Now allowing that Satan has as 
much power in this respect, as the mind of man, there is no diffi- 
culty in ascribing to him and to his subordinate spirits, a suffi- 
cient degree of omnipresence for all the purposes of his evil 
nature, and to bear out the Scriptures in their incidental state- 
ments of his power and attributes to do evil, and to superintend 
the affairs of his kingdom, in opposition to God and his Christ. 
We have no doubt he can descend into the earth — as all evil 
spirits can — and return when he will; or pass through any 



416 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

globe of the universe, as substances are no objection to the pro- 
gress of spirits. 

But there is another advantage which Satan has, besides that 
of the power of velocity ; which is, there are multitudes of fallen 
spirits like himself, but inferior to Satan, and various among- 
themselves, as to intellectual powers, who are at his command, 
and do his will, so far as their power extends. That he is a 
king, is shown from Rev. ix. 11, "And they (the inhabitants of 
hell,) had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottom- 
less pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in 
the Greek hath his name Apollyon" both of which names signi- 
fy a destroyer. If then he is a king, or a prince, as he is fre- 
quently called in the New Testament, he must of necessity have 
subjects, and laws, by which they are governed, who are no 
doubt the fallen angels, who fell from heaven at the same time 
with himself. But what those laws are, is unknown to mortals, 
as theyjDelong to the invisible mysteries of eternity ; but no doubt 
consist in part of schemes, plans, and stratagems, by which to 
injure the creatures of God, who are endowed with the gift of 
free agency, as well as of intellectual powers. 

That good spirits are engaged in aiding man's happiness, as 
well as that bad spirits are equally engaged to produce contrary 
effects, is shown from the Bible ; see Dan. x. 13. and onward, "But 
the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twen- 
ty days ; but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help 
me, and now I am come to make thee understand what shall 
befal thy people in the latter days." But this is not the only in- 
stance which can be brought as proof that good and bad angels 
contend about the affairs of men ; see St. Jude, 9th verse, where 
is an account of the contention which took place about the body 
of Moses, between Michael, the same arch-angel mentioned 
above, and Satan. But why single out those two instances, 
when the whole Bible is full of accounts to this effect, by which 
it appears that heaven and hell are in constant conflict on man's 
account, each addressing themselves to man's free agency, the 
one for his salvation, the other for his ruin. , 

But the reason why Satan delights himself in the work of our 
ruin, is because man is a creature of God, an intellectual being, 
having in this sense the image of God in some degree, by which 
the evil one is gratified, and in a manner revenged for his loss 
of heaven ; and because it is also the direct operation of his very 
nature, now that he is fallen, and shipwrecked of allthe excel- 
lencies he was in possion of in heaven. From which it is easy 
to perceive how the devil is a universal tempter ; which we have 
said is, first, himself, second, by the assistance of associate spirits, 
and third, by the fallen nature of man, which is by far the most 
efficient aid to his purposes in the earth ; which are counteracted 
only by faith in the blood and merits of Jesus Christ. 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 417 

Evidence of Polycarp, the Martyr, against Universalists, 
in Relation to a Hell, after Death. 

Universalists vainly boast that all the apostles, disciples, and 
first Christians of the first age of Christianity, believed as they 
do, about the universal and unconditional happiness of all the 
human race, after death. But how should they bow their heads 
in confusion, and hide their faces for shame, when they read the 
sentiments uttered by the martyr Polycarp, to the pro-consul of 
Tragan — the emperor of Rome, at that time — when he was 
about to be burnt, because he was a Christian. What does he 
say in that awful hour, when his faith was about to be put to 
the severest test, by torture ; when the pro-consul threatened to 
burn him alive if he would not swear by the genius of the Em- 
peror, and blaspheme Christ, the crucified ? He replied : " You 
threaten me with fire, which burns for a moment, and will 
soon be extinguished ; but alas, you are ignorant of the judg- 
ment to come, and of the fire of everlasting torments, reserved 
for the ungodly P 

No man will pretend, that Polycarp meant, by the words 
"judgment to come," the destruction of Jerusalem ; as that 
had happened sometime before Polycarp's death. What fire of 
everlasting torments did Polycarp refer to, in that speech to the 
pro-consul ? Certainly, to no event which could happen in this 
life. It could not have been the fire of salvation so often alluded 
to in this work, as believed in, by Ballou, which he has partly 
discarded in the Preface of his work. It could not have been 
the destruction of Jerusalem : as the ungodly of that time could 
not be effected by it, in a way of torment. There is no way to 
understand him, but of the damnation of hell, after death, when 
the ungodly are to go into a fire of everlasting torments, as the 
martyr has called it. 

That this was the universal belief of the Asiatic Christians, at 
that time, which was but one hundred and thirty-three years 
after the crucifixion of Christ, is shown from the fact that Poly- 
carp was the great teacher of the Churches, by his writings and 
preaching, in that quarter of the globe ; and that this was the 
fact, is shown from the acclamations of the multitude when they 
burnt him, who cried aloud, " This is the great doctor of Asia, 
the father of the Christians ; this is the destroyer of our gods, 
who hath taught men not to offer sacrifices, nor to worship 
them" And to prove this was the belief of the writers of the 
New Testament, if such proof is required, more than their own 
statements in their writings, we have only to recollect that this 
same Polycarp was a disciple of St. John, the Revelator, of 
whom he learnt this great doctrine. John, the Revelator, lived 
till nearly the end of the first century, with whom Polycarp had 



413 HISTORY OP THE FALLEN 

been acquainted from his youth, a lapse of about thirty-eight 
years. This we make out from Eusebius, one of the early wri- 
ters of ecclesiastical history ; who says that Polycarp died aged 
ninety-five, and that he died in the year of our Lord 166 ; which 
would make their acquaintance about thirty-eight years, as St. 
John died about the year A. D. 100 ; see Eusebius, page 146. 

What are Universalists to do with this witness against them ? 
by whom we prove, that in the first age of Christianity the doc- 
trine of the eternal punishment of the finally impenitent in hell 
in eternity, was believed in ; because they so read and so under- 
stood the Bible on that subject, and especially the New Testa- 
ment. It is of no importance for them to cite the writings of 
Origen, a man of great importance as a heretic, who was not 
born till about twenty years after the death of Polycarp, but who 
it is true, did not believe the orthodox doctrine on this subject. 
We say it is of no importance that this writer believed a con- 
trary opinion, because the opinion came into being too late to 
give it force and influence, as those opinions nearest the foun- 
tain are the most to be relied on. Origen was a great critic, and 
a scholar in the languages, but of no importance as a spiritual 
or orthodox teacher. Origen's opinions were considered here- 
sies, and were opposed by the orthodox church for many ages, 
the same as they are now opposed in the Arians, Socinians, and 
Universalists, by the orthodox of the present times ; and came 
up too late to claim fellowship with the primitive belief of the 
first Christians. 



Proofs of the Immortality of the Human Soul. 

That the souls of the human race die at the time the body 
dies, is unreasonable and unnecessary, as well as contrary to 
Scripture. It is unreasonable, inasmuch as there appears to be 
no use in such a procedure ; for it may be enquired, of what 
importance can it be that the soul should die with the body, and 
thus leave a blank in its being of some thousands of years before 
the resurrection of the bodies ? It it unnecessary ; for the same 
reason that it is unreasonable. There can arise out of such a 
circumstance, no developement of Divine wisdom, toward the 
furtherance of human happiness ; as we can easily perceive 
there does in the death of the body, now that its companion, the 
soul, has become a sinner ; as we have hinted in another place, 
in this work. It is contrary to Scripture, direct to the point, as 
well as contrary to fair inference, in many places in that book. 
The fact that God breathed in the nostrils of Adam, the breath 



ANGELS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 4l# 

of life ; and of his becoming therefore a living soul, is proof 
direct to the point. See Gen. 1st chapter. The reason we con- 
sider this a proof of the undying nature of the soul of man, is 
because the same word, living, is applied to God, who is called 
the living God, who, no person believes, can ever die. 

That the soul lives, after being separated from the earth, is 
shown from several passages of the Bible, which we proceed to 
give to the inspection of the reader ; as follows : "And Enoch 
walked with God, and he was not ; for God took him." — 
Gen. v. 24. Concerning this it is said by St. Paul, that 
" Enoch by faith was translated, that he should not see (or taste 
of) death ; and was not found, because God had translated 
him." Now, if he did not die, as St. Paul states, it follows that 
he is not dead, either body or soul ; as it is not likely that his 
soul would die, while his body should be kept alive. We there- 
fore, think that we prove by this, that there is at least, one im- 
mortal soul, of the human race, if no more. The case of Elijah, 
the Tishbite, is similar to the one above ; who was also transla- 
ted without passing through death ; see 2d book of Kings ii. 11. 
Now that the soul of Elijah, the prophet, did not die, and is not 
now dead, is shown from his appearing on the Mount, of trans- 
figuration, to Peter, James, and John, who heard him converse 
with Christ. Also, that the souls of men do not die when their 
bodies die, we show from the appearance of the soul of Moses, 
at the same time with Elijah, on the Mount ; who also was 
heard to converse with the Saviour. 

But to settle this question, we give the two following Scrip- 
ture accounts, which to us, is irresistable testimony that "the soul 
lives in a state of as perfect consciousness, as it does while con- 
nected with its companion, the body, in this life. See St. Luke, 
xxiii. 43, where an account of a certain conversation which took 
place between the Saviour and one of ^the malefactors with him 
on the cross : " And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." This he said to the 
thief, because he had believed on him — had repented of his sins, 
and on the cross was born again, and had in his agony, prayed 
to the Messiah, to be remembered when he should come into his 
invisible kingdom, in another work*, after death. Now as the 
thief's body was not taken away from the earth, but was disposed 
of according to the rites of sepultre, belonging to executed crim- 
inals ; and that it could not go from Jerusalem, where it died, it 
follows, that when the thief prayed, saying " remember me" 
&c, that he meant his soul, by the word me, and that Christ 
meant the same thing by the word thou ; as he said : " To day 
thou shalt be with me in paradise/' 

Our next and last evidence, (though we could bring many 
more passages of Scripture in support of the opinion,) is found 
Rev. vi. 9, 10, " And when he (the angel) had opened the fifth 



420 HISTORY OF THE FALLEN 

seal, I saw (says St. John,) under the alter, the souls of then! 

that were (the bodies,) slain for the word of God, and for the 

testimony which they held : and they cried with a loud voice, 

saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge 

and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth. And 

white robes were given unto every one of them ; and it was said 

unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their 

fellow servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as 

they were, should be fulfilled." Here it is plainly stated, that 

the soul is a living conscious being, whether in the body or out 

of it, or it could not be said of them as above shown, that they 

cried with a loud voice to God, and that white robes was given 

to every one of them, which' marks their happy condition, 

though they evidently disapprove of the manner they were cut 

off from the earth, by the revilers of their most holy faith. Rev. 

xxi. 8, 9, furnishes proof that the soul lives on, though the body 

dies ; for when St. John was about to fall down and worship the 

angel who had showed him so much, the angel said, " see thou 

do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the 

Prophets," and of necessity had once lived on the earth, or he 

could not have been one of the prophets ; but which of them ? 

There is none that can tell, though it has been conjectured to 

have been the soul of the prophet Daniel. 

We believe, however, that the idea of the death of the soul 
was invented by Universalists, in order to give God a good 
chance to make all such persons holy, as may or have died in 
their sins, at the general resurrection ; yet there is no need of 
this, as God could as easily, at the hour or moment of dissolu- 
tion or death, have arbitrarily made them thus, as to wait till the 
resurrection. But to sum up the whole matter and end the 
work, Universalists seem to think that God governs the universe 
of moral existences by physical strength, the same as a man 
would turn round a grind-stone ; on which account they seem 
to expect that he will turn his affairs over and over, so as exactly 
to suit himself; and being infinitely good, as wellas infinitely 
powerful, will therefore bring the whole human race, some how 
or other to heaven, safe and sound. But to this we reply, that 
if he governs in this way, he would, from his own infinite good- 
ness and poiver, have prevented the occurrence of sin and moral 
evil altogether, if he does not like it ; and that he does not 
is shown from Habakkuk, i. 13, "Thou art of purer eyes than 
to behold evil, (sin,) and cannot look on iniquity" with allow- 
ance ; and that he does not, is the whole tenor of the Bible ; 
consequently God is not the author of moral evil, but erring free 
agents only. 

THE END. 



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